Police have started investigating a viral photo of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) President and former Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane, which shows him lying down in a detention room.
The photo has been circulating on social media since Wednesday night through RSP supporters. The police are not only verifying the authenticity of the photo but also trying to identify the person who released it.
The photo was initially posted on Facebook by a user named Dr. Nicholous Bhusal but has since been deleted. Nicholous admitted that he took the photo, clarified that he wasn’t blaming anyone, and apologized through Facebook for making the photo public.
Kaski police have confirmed they are looking into the matter. “I saw it just now. We are investigating,” said SP Ajay Babu Oli, the Chief of Kaski Police. When asked if the photo was taken in the Kaski detention room, he replied that this was also under investigation.
Currently, Rabi Lamichhane is in Kaski police custody. He was arrested in Kathmandu on November 18 in connection with a cooperative fraud case and has been held in Kaski since then.
Unlike other detainees, Rabi is being held in a separate room. The viral photo shows a man lying down with a table and books next to him. Social media users have shared the photo in various ways, adding to its spread.
RSP leader Deepak Bohora confirmed that the photo is of Rabi Lamichhane. He clarified that the book on the table is not the Quran, as some claimed, but a book by Fareed Zakaria titled The Art of Living.
Bohora questioned who took the photo and why it was made public, adding that it raises concerns about Rabi’s security. RSP leaders suspect that the photo was leaked to create the impression that Rabi is being kept in a comfortable room.
