Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) President and former Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane, who was released on bail on Thursday in the case of misappropriation of savings from Pokhara’s Suryadarshan Cooperative, is scheduled to appear at the District Court in Kathmandu today.
RSP’s acting spokesperson, Manish Jha, informed that Rabi would travel from Pokhara to Kathmandu at 8 AM this morning and then present himself at the Kathmandu District Court due to another cooperative-related case against him in the capital.
Following his release from custody yesterday, the police conducted a health check-up at Pokhara’s Fishtail Hospital and handed him over to his family. Rabi was released from Kaski Police custody after posting NPR 6.5 million in bail as per the court’s order.
Along with him, six other defendants in the case were also released after posting their respective bail amounts. According to Kaski District Court Registrar Rajan Khanal, the released defendants include Rabi Lamichhane, Chhabilal Joshi, Lila Pachhai, Ram Bahadur Khanal, Krishna Bahadur Gurung, and Aarti Gurung. However, defendant Lila remained in custody as she was unable to post her bail yesterday.
The bench of Judge Nitij Rai ordered bail amounts of NPR 6.5 million for Rabi, NPR 8.8 million for Chhabilal, NPR 3.7 million for Lila, NPR 500,000 for Mina, NPR 1.5 million for Ram Bahadur, NPR 500,000 for Aarti, and NPR 100,000 for Krishna Bahadur. The defendants were granted bail after ten days of detention and hearings.
On December 22, the District Government Attorney’s Office had filed charges against Rabi and 43 others, accusing them of embezzling funds from the cooperative.
So far, the District Government Attorney’s Office has filed cases against 63 individuals in connection with the Suryadarshan Cooperative embezzlement. Registrar Khanal mentioned that further investigation into the cases of those released on bail is ongoing.
