High Court Orders Hearing on Withdrawal of Case Against Ravi Lamichhane and GB Rai

The Pokhara High Court has issued an order to hear the decision regarding the withdrawal of an organized crime and money laundering case against Ravi Lamichhane, chairman of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), and others. The Attorney General’s Office had decided last January to amend the charges and withdraw the case at the District Court of Kaski. The High Court has declared the District Court’s order invalid and directed a hearing upon the request of the government prosecutor’s office before making a final decision. April 13, Kathmandu.

The High Court bench, consisting of Justices Dr. Ratna Bahadur Bagchand and Merina Shrestha, instructed a hearing for Thursday regarding the Attorney General’s Office decision to withdraw the organized crime and money laundering case against RSP Chairman Ravi Lamichhane, Gorkha Media Pvt. Ltd. Chairman GB Rai, and director Rambahadur Khanal.

During the tenure of Attorney General Savita Bhandari in the interim government, the District Court of Kaski, which was hearing a cooperative fraud, organized crime, and money laundering case involving Chairman Lamichhane and others, amended the charges and decided to withdraw the organized crime and money laundering case. The Attorney General’s Office requested the District Court to dismiss the charges through the District Government Prosecutor’s Office.

In response, in the previous Falgun, District Judge Niti J. Rai ordered that since a writ petition is pending in the Supreme Court concerning the case withdrawal, the decision can only be made once the Supreme Court issues its ruling and submits it to the District Court. Director Rambahadur Khanal filed a petition at the High Court seeking to annul Judge Rai’s order, considering it invalid. According to Deputy Registrar Nil Prasad Paneru, the High Court bench led by Justices Bagchand and Shrestha declared the District Court’s order invalid, agreeing with Khanal’s petition.

The order states: “Although writ petitions are under consideration at the honorable Supreme Court, no interim order has been issued by the Supreme Court to stay the enforcement of the Attorney General’s decision. Additionally, unnecessary delay in the formal processes and procedures at lower courts, which negatively affects timely justice, harms the judiciary’s efficiency, vitality, and the principles of promptness. Therefore, regardless of the procedural developments in the lower courts, the ultimate decision will be subject to the Supreme Court’s ruling on the writ petitions. The District Court order dated 2082/11/04 BS is hereby declared void and quashed.”

The order further instructs: “A hearing shall be conducted on the petition submitted by the Kaski Government Prosecutor’s Office, with representation by the government counsel and interested parties, and a decision on the matter shall be rendered.”