The Kaski District Court has granted a 15-day remand extension for Rabi Lamichhane, former home minister and chairperson of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), to continue further investigation into allegations of cooperative frauds, organised crime, and money laundering.

The decision, issued by Judge Himalal Belbase on Sunday, applies to Lamichhane and three others—former Deputy Inspector General of Police Chhabilal Joshi, Leela Pachhai, and Ram Bahadur Khanal. Lamichhane, initially arrested on October 18, has already undergone multiple remand extensions, bringing the total detention period to over 40 days.

Lamichhane was apprehended by a Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) team from the RSP’s central office in Banasthali, Kathmandu on October 18, and transported to Pokhara for investigation. A cooperative fraud case has been registered with the Kaski district police. Previous probes including the one conducted by a special parliamentary probe committee alleged that he, as managing director of the now-defunct Gorkha Media Network, was involved in diverting funds from multiple cooperatives, including Rs30 million, into personal accounts.

The investigation follows a parliamentary special probe committee’s findings earlier this year, which implicated Lamichhane in financial irregularities while managing Galaxy 4K Television, before he quit the media company to join politics in 2022.

During Sunday’s court hearing, government attorneys and legal representatives for the victims argued for the remand extension, citing incomplete document analysis and pending evidence collection. However, Lamichhane’s legal team maintained that the allegations lacked concrete evidence, opposing the extension.

Earlier, police took Lamichhane to Butwal to investigate his alleged involvement in the fund misappropriation from the Butwal-based Suryadarsan Cooperative. In the meantime, district courts in Kathmandu and Chitwan have also issued arrest warrants against him and others on charges of diverting deposits from Kathmandu-based Swarnalaxmi Cooperative and Chitwan-based Sahara Cooperative.