The Kathmandu District Court has remanded rape-accused cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane to custody for seven days until October 13.
The court on Monday granted permission to the police to keep Lamichhane in custody for seven days to investigate the allegation against him. Lamichhane was produced before the court only on Monday as the court had remained closed for the Dashain holidays until Sunday.
Police had arrested Lamichhane from the Tribhuvan International Airport on Thursday morning soon after he landed in Kathmandu on a Qatar Airways flight.
The Gaushala Police Circle is investigating him for alleged rape of a minor.
Lamichhane, who is the former captain of the Nepal cricket team, has been accused of raping a minor multiple times in a hotel room in Kathmandu on August 21.
A 17-year-old girl filed a rape complaint against Lamichhane at the Gaushala Polie Circle on September 6. Police also conducted a health check-up of the girl the same day after receiving the complaint.
The girl has complained that Lamichhane took her out to different places of Bhaktapur and Kathmandu on August 21, a day before Lamichhane left for the bilateral series with Kenya.
She has accused Lamichhane of raping her multiple times in room number 305 of a hotel in Kathmandu Metropolitan City Ward Number 9 that night.
The girl has claimed in her complaint that she had gone to Nagarkot with Lamichhane on August 17 after being introduced to him through a friend.
Lamichhane left to play in the Carribean Premier League on August 22 after leading the team to a 3-2 victory in the five-match Twenty20 series against Kenya. Rohit Kumar Paudel then led the Nepali team in the one-dayers in his absence.
An arrest warrant was issued against Lamichhane on September 8 and the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) suspended him from the national team the same day after issuance of the arrest warrant.
Nepal Police later also issued a diffusion notice against him through Interpol on September 26.
Section 219 (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.”
