Rabi Lamichhane Excused from Regular Court Appearances in Kaski District Case

Pokhara. The Chairman of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and former Home Minister, Rabi Lamichhane, will no longer be required to attend regular hearings at the Kaski District Court.

On Tuesday, the bench of District Judge Shyam Kumar Shrestha ordered that he does not need to attend regular hearings. On Sunday, Lamichhane had filed a petition in court demanding to fight the case from outside the regular court dates.

In line with this, the Tuesday bench issued an order as per his request, informed court information officer Ram Bahadur Kisan.

Previously, he was required to appear in court every month to receive his hearing date. Now, he will not have to go to court regularly to receive his date. However, he will have to appear if any further evidence needs to be collected during the trial process or if the court summons him.

Other processes of the case will remain as they are, stated information officer Kisan. 'An application was made requesting the facility to be excused from attending hearings. That request has been granted as per the demand,' he said, 'Following this order, he will no longer need to appear for hearings. The order is for him not to be required for the monthly hearings as was the case.'

Charges of cooperative fraud, organized crime, and money laundering were first filed against Lamichhane at the Kaski District Court. He was arrested last year in Kartik and released on bail after depositing the amount in Poush.

He was released on a bail of 6.5 million rupees. 'The court has granted the facility not to attend regular hearings, allowing him to appear only when summoned by the court if the need arises to collect further evidence related to the case,' Kisan added, 'Other aspects of the case are still under process, in the same status.'

The Kaski District Government Attorney's Office had filed a case against Rabi and 63 others, accusing them of defrauding Surya Darshan Savings and Credit Cooperative Institution of 1.51 billion rupees. A claim for compensation amounting to 33.765 million rupees was made against Rabi's share. Similarly, a claim for compensation of 278.944705 million rupees was made under the money laundering aspect.

Although released on bail last Poush, Lamichhane had been coming to the Kaski court every month to receive his hearing date. He last appeared for a hearing at the District Court on Magh 29.