BUTWAL: The Butwal bench of the High Court Tulsipur has ordered the retrieval of the case file in the ongoing legal proceedings against Rabi Lamichhane, chair of the Rastriya Swatantra Party and Chhabilal Joshi, former director of Gorkha Media and ex-Deputy Inspector General (DIG).
The order was issued on Thursday by a two-judge bench comprising Judges Om Prakash Aryal and Basudev Acharya in the cooperative fraud case in which both are in custody. As a result, the possibility of immediate release for Lamichhane and Joshi has been delayed.
Both are in jail for allegedly embezzling savings from Supreme Cooperative Society. Lamichhane is currently held at Nakkhu Jail in Lalitpur.
The case against Joshi, who was also involved in the Gorkha Media management at the time, was scheduled for hearing before the same Butwal bench. Lamichhane had requested to pay the equivalent of the disputed amount and contest the case while out on bail. However, district and High Courts, including the Supreme Court, had previously ordered him to remain in custody during proceedings.
The High Court had earlier held a hearing on November 6, when it ordered the retrieval of the case file from the Rupandehi District Court.
During the proceedings, Lamichhane had submitted a request for temporary release upon depositing the disputed amount. A previous hearing on October 30 was postponed after Joshi’s legal team filed a petition.
Given the similarity of the cases against Lamichhane and Joshi, the bench comprising Judges Milan Kumar Rai and Om Prasad Aryal directed that both cases be heard together.
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