Hearing of Ravi and Chhavi’s Case on the Joint Bench of Acharya and Aryal

Butwal — The hearing of the case against Rabi Lamichhane (chair of the Rastriya Swatantra Party-RSP) and Chhabilal Joshi (director of Gorkha Media Network), who are in custody on charges of cooperative fraud and organized crime, is scheduled today at the High Court in Butwal. According to the court’s information officer, the case will be heard under the joint bench of Justices Vasudev Acharya and Om Prakash Aryal, listed as the third agenda-item in bench number one.

Previously, the hearing set on Kartik 13 was postponed after Joshi’s legal team filed an application. The High Court has ordered that both accused be tried jointly, deeming their cases of similar nature.

Lamichhane has deposited a guarantee of NPR 27.48 million in the cooperative fraud case and sought to contest the trial out of custody, but the Rupandehi District Court had rejected his release. In the so-called “Supreme Cooperative” fraud case, the charge sheet names Lamichhane and others, holding them collectively liable for an amount of NPR 109.936 million in damages.

Lamichhane has mentioned that he was neither a shareholder nor director of the cooperative, and that he committed no wrongdoing.