The Butwal Bench of Tulsipur High Court has ordered the submission of files and orders issued by the Rupandehi District Court in the case involving Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) President Rabi Lamichhane and former deputy inspector general Chhabi Lal Joshi.
Lamichhane and Joshi, who are in judicial custody on charges of embezzling funds from Butwal’s Supreme Cooperative, had requested to be released upon depositing the amount equivalent to the damages claimed against them. The Butwal Bench of Tulsipur High Court heard their petition on Thursday.
In the fraud case involving Supreme Cooperative’s funds, a charge sheet was filed against Lamichhane and three others, demanding Rs 109.94 million in damages from them.
Lamichhane had filed a petition seeking his release upon depositing the amount corresponding to his share of the claimed amount. He had also submitted a bank guarantee of Rs 27.48 million to the Rupandehi District Court.
On August 11, a bench of Judge Narayan Sapkota of the district court rejected the request for release. Lamichhane then appealed to the Butwal Bench of Tulsipur High Court on August 25.
Hearing the petition on Thursday, a joint bench of Judges Basudev Acharya and Om Prasad Aryal ordered submission of files from the district court.
Once the files are received from the district court, the petition of Lamichhane and Joshi will be heard again.
During Thursday’s hearing, Joshi’s lawyer Apoorva Khatri argued, but the judges noted that the case documents were insufficient and ruled that additional documents must be submitted before the next hearing. As a result, the hearing concluded before Lamichhane’s lawyers could argue.
Advocate Dinesh Tripathi argued on behalf of the cooperative’s depositors.
It has not yet been confirmed when the next hearing will be scheduled. The previous hearing date, set for last Thursday, had been postponed upon request from Joshi’s legal team.
