Court grants additional seven days of custody for Joshi

KATHMANDU, Sept 27: The Kaski District Court, on Friday, approved an extension of police custody for former Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police and director of Gorkha Media, Chhabilal Joshi, for an additional seven days in connection to a cooperative fraud case involving in Pokhara-based Suryadarshan Savings and Cooperative Limited.

Chief of District Police Office (DPO), Kaski, Superintendent of Police (SP) Mohan Thapa affirmed that the police were granted permission to hold Joshi for an extended period of a week. “Initially, the court had allowed a five-day custody starting Monday,” SP Thapa informed Republica, “We had requested the court for an additional time of custody as the recording of his statement could not be completed on time.”

On Tuesday, the District Government Attorney's Office recorded his statement for two and a half hours, from 10:30 AM to 1 PM, but the session was halted due to Joshi's bronchitis-induced poor health condition. “It was anticipated that the recording would resume on Friday,” SP Thapa told Republica, “However, this did not occur due to his deteriorating health issues.” 

Following a directive issued by the Home Ministry on Sunday, which called for the implementation of recommendations made by a Parliamentary Special Committee investigating embezzlement and misuse of funds within cooperative organizations, police were instructed to take action against individuals implicated in the report. Joshi, along with other cooperative office-bearers, had been under police surveillance concerning the cooperative scam. He was arrested the same day and flown to Pokhara that night.