The Tulsipur High Court on Friday sent former home minister and Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) chair Rabi Lamichhane to custody in a cooperative fraud case.

The Butwal bench of the High Court Tulsipur has issued an order to remand the Lamichhane to custody, overturning the decision of the District Court of Rupandehi.

A joint bench of judges Ramesh Dhakal and Swikriti Parajuli issued an order. The bench upheld the decision of the district court to send former Deputy Inspector General (DIG) and ex-director of Gorkha Media Network, Chhabilal Joshi, to judicial custody.

The district court on January 26 had released Lamichhane on a bail of Rs10 million on the condition that he appear on the scheduled dates. Lamichhane later moved the high court, challenging the lower court order.

Judge Yogi had ordered Lamichhane to be released on bail, stating, “Given that there is no reasonable basis to believe the defendant did not commit the alleged crime based on the immediately available evidence, the matter will be further examined during the trial.”

The District Government Attorney’s Office had appealed to the high court, seeking to overturn this order. It had argued that Lamichhane should remain in custody due to the seriousness of the charges and the evidence against him.

All three cases were heard together.

The fraud case involves accusations of embezzlement by both Lamichhane and Joshi, with claims of Rs20 million transferred to Lamichhane’s personal account and Rs25 million transferred to Joshi’s.

An audit report has revealed that a sum of Rs109.936 million was deposited into various accounts of Gorkha Media Network. The statement given by Lamichhane, claiming that Joshi had raised capital ranging from Rs5 million to Rs12 million for the media company, was also used by the District Judge as a basis. The chargesheet mentions the joint liability of Lamichhane, Joshi, and GB Rai for the Rs109.936 million channelled into Gorkha Media Network.

Lamichhane has been released on bail, while Joshi remains in custody for further investigation. Rai is on the run.

Joshi had previously been released on bail of Rs8.8 million in a case involving the Suryadarshan Cooperative in Pokhara and Rs5 million in a fraud case related to the Swarnalakshmi Cooperative in Kathmandu. Additionally, a case has been registered against him in the Sahara Cooperative fraud case.

Lamichhane, on the other hand, was released on bail in several cases: Rs6.5 million in the Kaski-based Suryadarshan Cooperative case, Rs6 million in the Swarnalakshmi case in Kathmandu, Rs10 million in the Supreme Cooperative case in Rupandehi, and Rs5.4 million in the Sahara Cooperative case in Chitwan.

The Supreme Cooperative case, which involved 28 defendants, including GB Rai, was registered in April last year with a claim of Rs860 million in damages. Among the 28, 17 individuals now face additional charges.