Former Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane arrested

Rastriya Swatantra Party President and former Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane has been arrested on Friday.

Lamichhane was apprehended after the Kaski District Court issued an arrest warrant against him this afternoon.

After the arrest, the police are preparing to take Lamichhane to Pokhara today itself.

Prior to the arrest, Lamichhane organized a press conference and said that he had been framed by the state.

The Parliamentary Special Committee on Cooperatives had recommended action against four persons including the then Managing Director of Gorkha Media Lamichhane.

Lamichhane was arrested on the basis of the same.

The Committee had recommended action against Gorkha Media Network Chairman GB Rai, the then Managing Director Lamichhane, member Kumar Ramtel and director Chhabiraj Joshi for misappropriating the funds of the cooperative.

Among them, police have arrested Joshi and is carrying out investigation while Ramtel is also in police custody.

The Committee concluded that the money of the depositors in the cooperative was transferred illegally to the account of Gorkha Media Network Pvt Ltd and Lamichhane was also found involved in it.

The Committee made a conclusion that the funds of nine cooperatives across the country were embezzled in the Gorkha Media Network.

According to the report, the money of Suryadarshan of Pokhara, Supreme of Butwal, Swarnalakshmi of Kathmandu, Sahara of Chitwan, Sanopaila of Birganj was embezzled in the Gorkha Media Network.

Similarly, it has been mentioned in the report that funds of Image, Samana, Sumeru and IME were also misappropriated in the Gorkha Media Network.

The Committee has recommended to the government that the director of the cooperatives and everyone involved in the decision-making process should be sent to the concerned authorities for action.

The Committee has also directed the government to immediately arrest Gitendra Babu, GB Rai, Than Bahadur Budha Magar, Dinesh Rokka, Sagar KC, Pichkan Khatun, Bhupendra Rai, who are on the run.