The police have initiated the process of issuing a notice through the Interpol for arrest of suspended Nepal cricket captain Sandeep Lamichhane, who has been accused of raping a minor.
The police have started the process with Lamichhane remaining out of contact for 11 days after issue of an arrest warrant against his name. “He has not come into contact until now. The process to arrest through the Interpol has already been started,” an officer with the Kathmandu District Police Office told Setopati.
The police had earlier said that it would use official or unofficial channel to arrest Lamichhane, who was abroad to play in the Caribbean Premier League, when the arrest warrant was issued on September 8.
Lamichhane’s whereabouts have yet to be known. The police had earlier estimated that he could be in Dubai but that has yet to be confirmed.
The police officer said that an absconding offender can be arrested by the Interpol following court order if the investigation officer seeks so in course of the investigation.
The police had started investigation after a 17-year-old girl filed a rape complaint against Lamichhane at the Gaushala Police Circle on September 6.
The girl has claimed in her complaint that Lamichhane raped her in a hotel room in Kathmandu Metropolitan City Ward Number 9 on August 21, a day before Lamichhane left for the bilateral series with Kenya. In her statement to the police, the girl has accused Lamichhane of raping her multiple times in room number 305 of the hotel that night.
Police have collected the CCTV footage of the hotel where they are said to have stayed as evidence.
The girl has also stated that she had gone to Nagarkot with Lamichhane on August 17 after being introduced to him through a friend. According to police, they have collected the CCTV footage from there too and are studying it.
Section 219, sub-section (2) of the National Penal (Code) Act, 2017 states: “Where a man has sexual intercourse with a woman without her consent or with a girl child below eighteen years of age even with her consent, the man shall be considered to commit rape on such woman or girl child.”
