Gandaki, January 9: Six defendants in the case of misappropriation of savings of Pokhara’s Surya Darshan Cooperative, including Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSWP) President and former Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane, have paid bail.
Lamichhane, Chhabilal Joshi, Ram Bahadur Khanal, Krishna Bahadur Gurung, Meena Gurung and Aarati Gurung have paid bail, informed Kaski District Court’s Shrestedar Rajan Khanal. According to Shrestedar Khanal, they have been released after paying the bail.
The bench of Justice Nitij Rai had today ordered the release of Chairman Lamichhane on bail of Rs 6.5 million, Chhabilal Joshi on bail of Rs 8.8 million, Leela Pachai on bail of Rs 3.7 million, Meena Gurung on bail of Rs 0.5 million, Ram Bahadur Khanal on bail of Rs 1.5 million, Aarati Gurung on bail of Rs 0.5 million and Krishna Bahadur Gurung on bail of Rs 100 thousands. The court has stated that the defendant Leela Pachai will remain in custody after failing to pay the bail amount today.
Lamichhane is facing another case related to cooperatives in Kathmandu, so he will be handed over to the party and his family. He will appear in the Kathmandu District Court on Friday. The court has ordered the release of the defendants on bail after 10 days of closed-door hearings.
On December 20, the District Attorney’s Office filed a case against 44 people, including Lamichhane, on charges of embezzling funds from the cooperative. The Attorney General’s Office has so far filed cases against 63 people in the Surya Darshan Cooperative fraud case. Shrestedar Khanal said that further investigation will be conducted into the cases of the defendants who have been released on bail.
