KATHMANDU, April 15: The Supreme Court (SC) has sought an explanation report in response to a writ petition filed by former DIG Chhabi Lal Joshi Banjade, who remains in custody over the Supreme Cooperative fraud and organized crime case linked to the Gorkha Media Network.
A single bench of Justice Binod Sharma issued the order on Tuesday following a preliminary hearing on the writ petition filed by Joshi.
Earlier, a single bench of Judge Basistha Kumar Ghimire at the Rupandehi District Court had given permission to police to keep former DIG Joshi in custody for further investigation. The Tulasipur High Court's Butwal Bench upheld the district court's decision to keep Joshi in custody in response to the writ petition against that order.
Former DIG Joshi in police custody following inconclusive court...
In protest, Joshi filed another petition with the SC on Sunday, seeking to revoke the High Court's order. In the petition registered on April 13, Joshi asked the apex court to quash the detention order and release him on a general date. He also requested judicial comments on the judge who issued the order to keep him in custody for further proceedings.
Earlier, Judge Pralhad Kumar Yogi's bench at the Rupandehi District Court had released Rabi Lamichhane, the former Managing Director of Gorkha Media and a 15 percent shareholder, on Rs 10 million bail. However, the Butwal Bench of the Tulasipur High Court later ordered Lamichhane's detention.
In Rabi's petition, the SC bench led by Justice Tek Prasad Dhungana previously ordered the submission of a clarification regarding the detention order.
In both petitions, the High Court also requested the district court to provide the clarification report. Upon receiving the report, the district court's order against Rabi was annulled, while the order against Chhabi was upheld.
