KATHMANDU, Nov 15: Rupandehi Police is preparing to send Rabi Lamichhane, Chairman of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), to Kaski today.
After Rabi Lamichhane's statement was recorded by the District Government Attorney's Office on Thursday, Rupandehi's Police Chief, SP Ranjit Singh Rathore, said that preparations are being made to send him to Kaski by aircraft today.
Lamichhane, who was brought to Rupandehi on Tuesday, was interrogated for about 23 hours on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
His statement was recorded at the District Government Attorney's Office in Rupandehi in connection with the case of embezzlement of funds from Supreme Cooperative through Gorkha Media Network.
The statement of Lamichhane was recorded by Prem Raj Paudel, Chief of the District Government Attorney's Office in Rupandehi, along with DSP Bijay Raj Pandit, Chief of the Area Police Office in Butwal, and investigating officers.
Lamichhane set to return to Kaski today after completing statem...
District Attorney Paudel confirmed that Lamichhane's statement has been completed. Paudel also informed that 74 questions and answers were conducted regarding the case associated with Lamichhane.
Lamichhane, who is also a former Home Minister, was the former Managing Director of Gorkha Media. According to the parliamentary committee's report, during his tenure, Rs 142.9 million from Supreme Cooperative was unlawfully transferred to Gorkha Media Network.
Of the total amount, Rs 20 million was withdrawn in Lamichhane's name as shown in previous investigation reports.
Supreme Cooperative, located at the highway junction in Butwal, has 10,391 depositors. Of the total savings of Rs 1.7 billion deposited, Rs 861.8 million was embezzled by the group of Gitendrababu (GB) Rai. As a result, 1,831 depositors from the cooperative filed a complaint at the Area Police Office in Butwal.
Based on the three complaints, the investigation into the Supreme Cooperative fraud case has been ongoing for nearly nine months.
Lamichhane was arrested on October 18 in connection with the embezzlement of funds from Suryadarshan Cooperative. Last Sunday, the Kaski District Court extended his custody for the fourth time, granting an additional 13 days.
After being implicated in the Supreme Cooperative fraud case as well, he was brought from Kaski to Rupandehi for a statement.
During the investigation, the police filed a case through the District Attorney's Office in April against 28 individuals, including the patron of the cooperative and chairman of Gorkha Media Network, GB Rai, the chairman of the cooperative Om Prakash Gurung, secretary Dipesh Pun, and cooperative manager Sagar KC.
Seven of them were arrested in April. Chairman Gurung has been sent to custody for further investigation. Six others, including Secretary Pun, were released on bail. Nineteen individuals, including GB Rai, are still at large.
The Kaski District Court issued arrest warrants in April against the 19 individuals who are still at large. During the investigation, it was revealed that money was withdrawn from Supreme Cooperative by the directors, officials, and members of Gorkha Media Network and used for Gorkha Media expenses. As a result, the Rupandehi District Court issued arrest warrants on October 24 against 12 individuals, including Rabi Lamichhane, former DIG Chhabilal Joshi, and others.
In the same case, Chhabilal Joshi, the former DIG and vice-chairman of Gorkha Media, was previously interrogated in Rupandehi and then sent to Pokhara.
