KATHMANDU: Police have circulated an arrest warrant against Sandeep Lamichhane, the suspended captain of the Nepali national cricket team, to all districts.
Lamichhane name has been listed on the list of fugitives after a complaint of raping a minor was lodged against him.
Police have asked all security posts and bodies, including Tribhuvan International Airport Security Office, to take Lamichhane into custody and produce him before Police Circle Gaushala after sighting him after an arrest warrant was issued against the cricketer from the Kathmandu District Court.
Police also forwarded all details of Lamichhane such as his height, temporary and temporary adresses, along with the arrest warrant.
Lamichhane, who is in the West Indies to play the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), tweeted that he would return to Nepal and face the charges.
CPL also canceled its association with Lamichhane after the court issued an arrest warrant against him in Nepal. Since then, Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) also suspended him from the post of captain.
Although Lamichhane claims that he will return to Nepal soon, when exactly would he return is yet to be clear.
He claimed that he is innocent through a tweet and mentioned that he will return to Nepal soon.
After getting the permission from the court to arrest him on rape charges, the police issued a circular to all the police offices through Nepal Police headquarters to take him into custody regardless of the route he arrives, be it by air or by land.
As the hotel where the alleged rape took place is in Sinamangal, a complaint has been registered at Gaushala Police Circle.
But Kathmandu Metropolitan Circle is also involved in the investigation.
The strongest evidence in the alleged incident of rape at the hotel on the evening of August 21 is the clip from the hotel’s closed circuit television.
The police officer involved in the investigation said evidence has been collected that Lamichhane and the victim entered the hotel at Sinamangal at 11:55 pm and left the hotel at 6 am the next day.
They have also interrogated staffers on duty at the hotel on the said date.
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