CHITWAN, Nov 23 : The District Court Chitwan has issued arrest warrants against Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Chairman Rabi Lamichhane and former Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Nepal Police Chhabilal Joshi, along with eight others, in connection with the Sahara Chitwan Multipurpose Cooperative fraud case.
According to Police Inspector Laxman KC of the District Police Office Chitwan, Judge Dayaram Dhakal granted permission for the arrest warrants on Friday following a complaint lodged by depositors. He said that arrest warrants have been issued against 10 including Lamichhane and Joshi.
The complaint accuses Lamichhane, Joshi, along with shareholders of the GB Group of Companies, including Bishal Tamang, Nabin Achhami, Rabina Rimal, Ashraf Ali Siddiqui, shareholders of Nature Nest Pvt Ltd Deepak Lama, shareholders of Spring Wood Real Estate Bhagwati Bamjan, and shareholders of Nature Herbs International Pvt Ltd Kabita Tamang and Ram Bahadur Khanal. According to the victims, Rs 108 million was transferred from Sahara Cooperative to Gorkha Media Network Pvt Ltd. Additionally, victims allege that Rs 97.381 million were transferred from Sahara Cooperative to Nature Herbs International Pvt Ltd, Rs 92.750 million to GB Group of Companies, Rs 68.188 million to Spring Wood Real Estate, and Rs 65.110 million to Nature Nest Pvt Ltd, bringing the total to Rs 431.449 million.
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Preliminary investigations revealed suspicious transactions amounting to Rs 470 million in Gorkha Media's account at Global IME Bank. Authorities are investigating the exact flow of funds, and supplementary charges may be filed under Section 35 of the Civil Code, 2074 BS.
The case, initially filed on September 24, named 17 individuals, including Gitendra Babu (GB) Rai, the chairman of Sahara Cooperative as defendants. Subsequent investigations implicated additional suspects, including Lamichhane and Joshi. A total of Rs 376.564 million has been confirmed as embezzled, according to the Government Attorney’s Office.
Currently, Lamichhane and Joshi are in custody, while others implicated, such as Kumar Ramtel and Ashish Anand, are serving prison sentences.
The Sahara Cooperative case involves 6,334 depositors, with 446 individuals filing complaints for the recovery of their funds. Authorities have estimated a total embezzlement of Rs 523.285 million, although Rs 146.772 million remains unclaimed, said district attorney Shantiraj Luintel.
The office previously filed a case against 17 individuals, including Rai, seeking the return of the embezzled amount to the claimants under Section 54 of the Criminal Code, 2074 BS. Additionally, the office has listed them as defendants in a money laundering case.
