The argument of the judge is that he is only trying to get immunity by blaming others for helping to maintain ”law and order” in the society, even though he is currently in retirement.
Both parties have reached the High Court against the two orders given by the two judges of the Rupandehi District Court in the Butwal Supreme Savings and Loan Cooperative fraud case. The Public Prosecutor's Office has appealed, demanding that the then Managing Director of Gorkha Media Network, Ravi Lamichhane, should be imprisoned for fraud and organized crime.
The then former Vice President of Gorkha Media, DIG Chavi Lal Joshi, has filed a petition in the High Court with the demand that he should be allowed to sit outside the jail and try the case.
District Court Judge Prahlad Kumar Yogi's bench ordered Lamichhane to be released on a bond of 1 crore on January 13. Yogi ordered Lamichhane to take bail and put him on bail, saying that there is no reason to believe that the defendant did not commit the accused offense from the immediately obtained evidence related to the missile. The District Public Prosecutor's Office has appealed to the High Court demanding the annulment of the said order.
The public prosecutor's office has demanded that Lamichhane should not be released on bail because it is clear that he committed a crime. District Attorney Premraj Paudel said that the petition was filed in the High Court last Friday and the missile was sent on Tuesday. He insists that Lamichhane should be kept in prison after the fact is established that "there is no reason to believe that Lamichhane has committed no crime".
Regarding Joshi, the then Vice President of Gorkha Media, who was charged with the same offense as Lamichhane, the bench of District Judge Vashisht Kumar Ghimire ordered Joshi to be sent to jail for preliminary investigation on Monday. It was Judge Ghimire's order that Joshi should be remanded in custody as he tried to escape saying that Gitendrababu (GB) Rai was involved in bringing the co-operative's money to Gorkha media.
Joshi is not in a position to agree with the defendant's statement that the accusations are being put on another person and that he is trying to get rid of the accusations by blaming Gitendrababu Raiu, who is absconding, because he has to play a role in maintaining law and order in the society even though he is a high ranking police officer.
Joshi filed a petition in the High Court Tulsipur Butwal bench on Tuesday against the order of the district court. "Since the order is prejudicial, we have filed a petition demanding its cancellation," said former DIG Joshi's son Rochak. High Court Tulsipur Butwal Bench Office Information Officer Ram Bahadur Kunwar also said that a petition has been registered against the order of Ruppandehi District Court to send him to jail.
It is mentioned in the indictment that Rs 20 million in the name of Lamichhane personally and Rs 25 million in the name of Joshi were transferred from the Supreme Cooperative. In both cases, the loan was disbursed without completing any process. In the order to send Joshi to prison, Judge Ghimire has mentioned that Gitendrababu Rai, Chabilal Joshi and Ravi Lamichhane are the account holders of Gorkha Media's Global REME Bank and it has been seen that funds have been transferred to the same account from Supreme Cooperative.
The district judge has also based the statement given by Lamichhane that Joshi made 120 million from 5 million to 120 million capital in Gorkha Media as seen from the audit report that 100 million 99 million 36 thousand went into various bank accounts of Gorkha Media, which is owned by Joshi. In the indictment, Lamichhane, Joshi and Rai are jointly liable for 109.9936 thousand rupees that went to Gorkha media. Both judges Ghimire and Yogi have analyzed 109.9936 thousand collective liability mentioned as the main facts. Although the facts of the sentencing clause of both the orders appear to be the same, Lamichhane has been released on bail, while Joshi has been remanded in custody.
Joshi was earlier released on bail of 88 lakhs in Pokhara's Suryadarshan Cooperative and 50 lakhs in Kathmandu's Swarnalakshmi Cooperative fraud case. A case has also been registered against him in Sahara Chitwan cooperative fraud. Lamichhane was released on bail of Rs 65 lakh in the case of Suryadarshan Cooperative, Rs 60 lakh in the case of Swarnalaxmi, Rs 1 crore in the case of Supreme Cooperative and Rs 54 lakh in the case of Sahara Cooperative of Chitwan.
In the supplementary charge registered against 22 people in the Supreme Cooperative fraud, 55 crore rupees has been fixed. 20 million in the name of Lamichhane and 25 million in the name of Joshi have been claimed from Supreme. Apart from that, 10 crore 99 lakh 36 thousand bigos have been demanded against both of them under collective liability. A case was registered last May with 28 people including GB Rai as defendants in Supreme Cooperative fraud. At that time, 86 crores were claimed. A case has been registered against 17 out of 28 people with additional charges.
