Lamichhane sent to six-day custody amid demos

The Kaski district court on Sunday remanded former Deputy Prime Minister and chairperson of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Rabi Lamichhane, an accused in a cooperatives scam, in custody for six days amid protests in support of and against his arrest.

Responding to an arrest warrant from Kaski district authorities, a team from the Nepal Police’s Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) had arrested Lamichhane from the RSP central office in Banasthali, Kathmandu, on Oct 18 for further probes into the scam and dispatched him to face the court in Pokhara (Kaski).

Meanwhile, police intervened in the demonstrations of RSP supporters opposing Lamichhane’s arrest by firing water cannons and teargas canisters in Pokhara as they reportedly sought to enter a ‘prohibited area’. 

Kaski district administration office had issued prohibitory orders declaring Shahid Chowk and Gaihrapatan of ​​Kaski a prohibited area by banning any group of more than five people from entering the area and disallowing all kinds of demonstrations and processions there. 

It should be noted that while the supporters of Lamichhane were protesting against his arrest, victims of different cooperative scams were staging protests demanding legal action against those involved in such scams.     

Lamichhane’s arrest follows a probe report from the Parliamentary Special Committee on Cooperatives that recommended legal action against several persons, including the then managing director of Gorkha Media Network Pvt Ltd Lamichhane, its chairperson GB Rai, member Kumar Ramtel and director Chhabiraj Joshi, for “illegal transfer and misappropriation of the cooperatives’ funds”, a charge Lamichhane has denied repeatedly. Police have already arrested Joshi while Ramtel is also in custody. 

The report states that Gorkha Media had misappropriated money deposited at nine cooperatives— Suryadarshan (based in Pokhara), Supreme (Butwal), Swarnalakshmi (Kathmandu), Sahara (Chitwan), Sanopaila (Birgunj), Image, Samana, Sumeru and IME.

The report has also recommended the immediate arrest of the others accused in the case—Gitendra Babu (GB Rai), Than Bahadur Budha Magar, Dinesh Rokka, Sagar KC, Pichkan Khatun and Bhupendra Rai.