Hearing on Lamichhane’s case at Judge Ghimire’s bench begins

KATHMANDU: Sandeep’s hearing has begun in the bench of of Judge Ghimire. Sandeep Lamichhane, a cricketer who was arrested on suspicion of raping a 17-year-old minor, has begun a detention hearing.

Deepak Dahal, the court’s information officer, stated that the detention hearing began behind closed doors in the courtroom of Kathmandu District Court Judge Madhav Prasad Ghimire. The bench heard Lamichhane’s statement on Tuesday.

The public prosecutor will first argue on behalf of the victim, followed by Sandeep’s lawyers. On Monday, the public prosecutor’s office filed a case against Sandeep Lamichhane in court.

The police completed the investigation against him on Oct 21 and submitted the report to the office. However, due to the Tihar holiday, the case could not be registered in court. The police investigated Sandeep after a 17-year-old girl filed a complaint alleging forced rape.

He was held in police custody for 24 days before being charged with rape in district court on Oct 31. He traveled to Kenya on Aug 22 for a T20 match. On Sept 6, the minor victim reported being raped to Gaushala police station.

The accused Lamichhane was in Kenya at the time. He then went to the West Indies to compete in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). He did not return to Nepal after an arrest warrant was issued against him, and the police issued a diffusion notice through Interpol.

On October 6, police detained Sandeep Lamichhane at Tribhuvan International Airport.

The police conducted an investigation against him under Section 219 of the Criminal Code and Section 18 of the Criminal Code, neither of which requires coercion. According to Section 3 of that, 9h0 has also requested a 12-year prison sentence.

In the 9th section of the said sub-section, there is a provision of imprisonment from 10 years to 12 years if a woman is 16 years old or more than 16 years old or less than 18 years old.

The police have also demanded that the victims be compensated. The police also investigated Sandeep’s property and included it in the charge sheet in order to obtain compensation.

According to the charge sheet, only 65,298 rupees were discovered in Sandeep Lamichhane’s NIC bank. In addition, the land in Chitwan Kalyanpur-7 has been revealed. The property in question has also been requested to be frozen.

Sandeep Lamichhane has denied the rape in a statement to the public prosecutor’s office and the police. He admitted to arriving in Kathmandu on the night of August 21 and staying in the same room. However, he claims that the victim was sleeping on the bed while he was sleeping on the chair.