The Kathmandu District Court on Tuesday began recording statements of the suspended national cricket team captain Sandeep Lamichhane and the minor girl who has accused the cricketer of raping her.

A single bench of judge Madhav Prasad Ghimire recorded statements of both the parties.

On Monday, the Kathmandu District Attorney’s Office had filed a chargesheet at the Kathmandu District Court against Lamichhane, charging him of raping the 17-year-old.

“Lawyers from both sides recorded their statements. The court is likely to decide whether to free him on bail, without bail or to keep him in custody,” said Achyut Neupane, chief of the district attorney’s office, in Kathmandu.

Neupane also said that during the closed-door recording, Lamichhane defended all the allegations made by the minor girl against him.

On Monday, the district attorney had presented a chargesheet against Lamichchane at the district court, demanding a prison sentence of 10-12 years for the alleged rape.

Lamichhane has been accused of raping the minor on August 21. He has been charged under Section 219 of the Criminal Code 2074.

Through the charge sheet, the district attorney has demanded compensation from Lamichhane for the victim’s alleged physical and mental torture caused by Lamichhane’s alleged act. After the charge sheet was filed, Lamichhane’s bank account and property were frozen.

If the charge against him is proven, he will be imprisoned for 10 to 12 years as per the existing legal provisions.

Last week, Nepal Police after an investigation into Lamichhane said he had indeed raped the minor. He, however, has been denying the charge.

In her statement, the minor girl had told the police that Lamichhane had raped her twice. She informed the police that initially she had known Lamichhane through the social networking app Snapchat, and later the cricketer forcefully took her to Nagarkot, and brought back to a hotel in Tilganga, Kathmandu.

Meanwhile, Lamichhane in his statement to the police said that he took the minor to Nagarkot on the girl's will. He also said that the girl who has claimed herself victim admitted her age of being 19-year-old.

The minor had filed a case against the 22-year-old cricketer on September 6 at the Metropolitan Police Circle, Gaushala.

Earlier, the District Court, Kathmandu had issued an arrest warrant against him on September 7 acting on the case filed by the Gaushala Police Circle after the girl accused him of rape.

Following the arrest warrant, the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) suspended the globe-trotting leg spinner. When he was accused of rape, Lamichhane was in Trinidad & Tobago to play the Twenty20 franchise Caribbean Premier League (CPL) from Jamaica Tallawahs.

Lamichhane wrote on Facebook the same day claiming that he was innocent and would return to Nepal to seek justice. However, after he mysteriously disappeared, Nepal Police circulated an Interpol diffusion against Lamichhane.

On October 1, Lamichhane announced that he would return to Nepal on October 6 to face legal charges. Soon after he landed at the airport, he was arrested by officials at the Department of Immigration and plainclothes personnel.