Case against Lamichhane, Joshi to be filed on Sunday

By Phadindra Adhikari,Lekhnath, Dec. 21: A complementary lawsuit has been filed at the Kaski District Court against 19 individuals, including GB Rai, for misusing funds of the Pokhara-based Surya Darshan Cooperative. 

However, the case against five individuals, including Rastriya Swatantra Party President Rabi Lamichhane and former DIG Chhabilal Joshi, who are now in police custody in connection with the cooperative fraud, will be filed only on Sunday.

The District Government Attorney’s Office filed the complimentary cases against 19 individuals whose cases were pending in the district court.

“We filed additional cases against 19 individuals including GB Rai on Friday but have no time to file cases against others,” said Information Officer Shanti Devi Sharma of the District Government Attorney’s Office, Kaski. 

The cases of Rabi Lamichhane, Chhabilal Joshi and GB Rai's partners, including Ram Bahadur Khanal of Nature Herbs, Lila Pachhai and Krishna Gurung of Surya Darshan Cooperative, will be registered on Sunday, said Sharma. 

Based on complaints filed by depositors, the police issued an arrest warrant against them on September 10, 2023. The case against several key individuals involved in the cooperative, including Vice President Kailash Darlami, Treasurer Kumar Ramtel, former executive Shiva Bahadur Gurung (Mahendra Bhote), Pramod Bhattarai, Anuj Nakarmi and Bhavishwor Aryal is pending in the court.

Among the initial 19 with arrest warrants, some key figures, including former cooperative president GB Rai, his brother Bhupendra, current president and manager Than Bahadur Budha, Dheeraj Kumar Das, Hemant Adhikari, Pramod Bhattarai, Suraj Shrestha, Aisma Gurung, Kavita Tamang, Sagar KC, Dinesh Roka, and Lalita Tamang are absconding. 

Similarly, Srishti Manandhar and loan officer Buddhi Gurung are also on the run.

After a lengthy investigation into the misappropriation of depositors’ funds in Surya Darshan Cooperative, the police submitted their report to the Government Attorney’s Office on October 3. The office had filed the case at the district court on October 6, but further complaints have necessitated additional prosecution, said Sharma.

In the earlier case, it was alleged that officials of Surya Darshan had embezzled Rs 1.11 billion of depositors’ funds. They are facing charges under the Cooperative Act, demanding penalties equal to the amount misappropriated and prison sentences ranging from eight to 10 years.