The Kaski District Court has granted permission to hold Rastriya Swatantra Party chair Rabi Lamichhane, who is also former deputy prime minister and home minister, along with former deputy inspector general (DIG) of Nepal Police, Chhabilal Joshi, in custody for seven more days. They were arrested on charges of cooperative fraud and organised crime. The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police apprehended Lamichhane on Friday after securing a warrant from the Kaski District Court.

Judge Chandrakanta Paudel’s bench on Thursday authorised extension of their detention, including that of Lila Pachaai, who was arrested in connection with the same case.

Government prosecutors, Kamala Kafle, along with assistant district attorneys Shantidevi Sharma and Bipinraj Tiwari, argued that an additional 25-day custody period was necessary to complete the investigation. Lawyers Yubaraj Parajuli and Bed Bahadur Bista supported this request, stating that crucial documents from various government offices, institutions, and banks were yet to be obtained, and further statements remained pending.

Senior advocates Narayan Ghimire and Hari Prasad Subedi, representing Lamichhane, advocated against the extension of the detention, as did lawmaker and advocate Sobita Gautam, and other advocates Narayan Kandel, Padmaraj Sharma, and Madhukumar Chaulagain. Advocate Jagannath Dhakal defended Joshi during the hearing.

During the court session, Lamichhane, initially agitated, claimed that he had repeatedly been subjected to examinations and that the case was politically motivated. However, he later composed himself and expressed faith in the judicial process.

Police arrested him as per the recommendations of the parliamentary special probe committee formed in May to investigate crisis-ridden cooperatives. The House panel concluded that Lamichhane was involved in misusing millions of rupees funnelled into Gorkha Media Network from various cooperatives when he was the managing director of the now-defunct media company that ran Galaxy 4K Television. This happened before he joined politics in June 2022.

After receiving the report, Speaker Devraj Ghimire of the House of Representatives a month ago directed the government to implement the report’s recommendations and a Cabinet meeting instructed the state agencies concerned to take necessary actions as per the panel’s recommendations.