Rupandehi police preparing to bring Lamichhane to Butwal to record statement

LUMBINI: After taking a statement from former DIG Chabilal Banjade Joshi, vice chairperson of Gorkha Media Network who was not named as a defendant in the Supreme Cooperative fund misappropriation case, police are now preparing to bring former Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane to Rupandehi for questioning.

While police brought former DIG Joshi to Rupandehi for questioning, they have not disclosed plans about Lamichhane’s transfer to Rupandehi due to potential protests by his supporters in Butwal and Bhairahawa, similar to those in Pokhara. According to police sources, they plan to fly Lamichhane directly from Pokhara to Bhairahawa, record his statement, and fly him back to Pokhara the same day.

Although the District Police Office, Kaski, filed charges against Lamichhane, police in Rupandehi submitted their investigation report to the District Government Attorney’s Office without naming Lamichhane or former DIG Joshi as defendants. However, Rupandehi police brought former DIG Joshi for questioning after the report of the parliamentary special investigation committee showed the disbursement of loans to him.

During his interrogation, Joshi faced 57 questions regarding loans issued in his name and cooperative fund misappropriation. The case involves alleged fraud of over Rs 1.31 billion as per complaints filed by 1,831 depositors. The police have filed charges against 28 people, including Gorkha Media Network Chairperson GB Rai and Supreme Cooperative’s current chairperson Om Prakash Gurung.

During his statement, Joshi claimed he was entrapped by GB Rai and Rabi Lamichhane.

According to senior police officials, since Joshi mentioned Lamichhane in his statement, they may bring him to Rupandehi for questioning and file supplementary charges. “He was not named as a defendant in the initial case, but we are now investigating the possibility of including him in a supplementary filing,” DSP Bijay Raj Pandit of Area Police Office, Butwal, said.

Police have arrested only eight out of 28 accused for misappropriation of deposits from Supreme Cooperatives. Cooperative chairperson Om Prakash Gurung is in custody, while seven others, including former secretary Dipesh Kumar Pun, have been released on bail.

The parliament special investigation report shows Lamichhane received Rs 20 million in credit from the cooperative. The report lists Lamichhane as the 13th among 19 major borrowers from Supreme.

Gorkha Media Network’s Vice Chairman and former DIG Chabilal Joshi received a loan of Rs 25 million, while director Kumar Ramtel received Rs 24 million. Most of the 19 major borrowers are closely associated with GB Rai.

Of the total 312 borrowers, the 19 major borrowers connected to GB Rai account for 74.71% of loans. The parliamentary investigation committee’s report notes that there are no collateral details for the recovery of the Rs 985.214 million rupees in disbursed loans.