Butwal, Nov 7: The Butwal bench of the High Court Tulsipur has ordered the District Court to submit the case files of Rastriya Swatantra Party Chair Rabi Lamichhane and former Gorkha Media director Chhabilal Joshi. The two are under judicial custody on charges of embezzling funds from the Supreme Cooperative in Butwal and involvement in organized crime.
The hearing was scheduled today at the High Court Butwal bench, chaired by Judges Basudev Acharya and Om Prasad Aryal. According to court information officer Ram Bahadur Kunwar, the bench has ordered the submission of the files and related documents issued by the Rupandehi District Court.
Earlier, the November 9 hearing was postponed at the request of Joshi’s defense lawyer. Before that, another bench comprising Judges Milan Kumar Rai and Om Prasad Aryal had ordered that both Lamichhane and Joshi’s cases be heard together, citing their similar nature.
Lamichhane had asked to be released on bail after depositing his share of the embezzled amount, but the High Court ordered that Joshi’s file also be presented before considering that request. The court had previously sought an explanatory report in Lamichhane’s case.
An indictment filed at the Rupandehi District Court has accused Lamichhane and others of collective embezzlement amounting to Rs 109.36 million from the cooperative. After the District Court denied bail, Lamichhane filed an appeal at the High Court on August 25.
He had offered a bank guarantee of Rs 27.48 million, representing his one-fourth share of the alleged embezzled amount. On August 10, District Court Judge Narayan Sapkota had rejected Lamichhane’s bail plea. Joshi had also submitted an equivalent bail amount, but the District Court ruled that the exact share of the embezzled funds for each defendant was yet to be determined, so both would remain in custody.
Lamichhane is currently held at Nakkhu Prison in Lalitpur, while Joshi is in Bhairahawa Prison for judicial proceedings.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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