Police arrested Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) chair Rabi Lamichhane on Friday evening from his residence in Budhanilakantha, Kathmandu following an order from the Butwal bench of the Tulsipur High Court to take him in custody in connection with a cooperatives fraud case.

The high court’s joint bench of justices Ramesh Dhakal and Swikriti Parajuli earlier in the afternoon overturned a decision by the Rupandehi District Court, which had released Lamichhane on Rs10 million bail in January last week.

The ruling upheld the district court’s previous decision to send former Gorkha Media Network operator Chhabilal Joshi, who is also former deputy inspector general of Nepal Police, to custody for further investigation in the same case.

A team under the command of senior superintendent of police Hobindra Bogati from the Central Investigation Bureau reached Lamichhane’s residence shortly after the court order.

Following the order, Lamichhane, who is in Kathmandu, wrote on X: “Honouring the respectable court’s ruling, I am presenting myself for arrest immediately. I trust the other doors of the judiciary remain open to me. For justice, I will knock on every possible door. A grave injustice has been done to me…”

In a separate video statement uploaded just before his arrest, Lamichhane claimed he was facing injustice and appealed to his supporters not to delay the party’s upcoming event in Chitwan scheduled for Saturday.

According to CIB spokesperson Superintendent of Police Sudhir Raj Shahi, Lamichhane was being kept at the District Police Range Kathmandu after the arrest and will be taken to Bhairahawa depending on the situation of the day.

The high court’s order also clears the way for Lamichhane to be transferred to Rupandehi for further proceedings. He faces charges of fraud and organised crime in the Supreme Cooperative case, in which the government alleges millions were misappropriated.

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.

The joint bench of judges Ramesh Dhakal and Swikriti Parajuli also upheld the decision of the district court to send former deputy inspector general (DIG) and ex-director of the now defunct 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’s order.

Judge Yogi had ordered Lamichhane to be released on bail, stating, “As 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 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 that Rs20 million were transferred to Lamichhane’s personal account and Rs25 million 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 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 was 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 defendants, 17 individuals now face additional charges.

The new development comes just five days after Lamichhane resumed his role as party president. The RSP had appointed party vice-president DP Aryal as its acting chief in December 2024 after Lamichhane faced cases of money laundering.

Lamichhane, who is still suspended as lawmaker, had requested Speaker Devraj Ghimire to lift his suspension a few days ago. The Speaker, however, responded that such reinstatement was not possible.