Feb 04, Kathmandu- A case has been filed in the Chitwan District Court, making 15 individuals and 6 organizations, including Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Chairman and former Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane, as defendants in the Sahara Chitwan Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited fraud case.

According to the opinion of the Government Attorney's Office on Tuesday, a case has been filed against Lamichhane, Chhabilal Joshi, Ram Bahadur Khanal, Rabina Rimal, Bishal Gurung, Nabin Achhami, Kabita Tamang, Deepak Lama, Asraf Ali Siddiqui, Bhagwati Bamjan, Laxmi Prasad Poudel, Bigyan Rai, Netrapani Bastola, Shiva Bahadur Gurung and Pragati Shrestha.

The five companies that received money from Sahara Cooperative are Gorkha Media Network Pvt. Ltd., Nature Hub International Pvt. Ltd., GB Group of Companies, Spring Wood Estate Housing Pvt. Ltd., Nature Nest Pvt. Ltd. A claim of nearly Rs 560 million has been claimed against them.

According to the charge sheet filed in the Chitwan court, it has been revealed that RPP Chairman Lamichhane has drawn 4 checks in the name of his wife Nikita Poudel Lamichhane. The charge sheet states that Rabi has drawn a check of nearly 6 million in the name of his wife. Similarly, the charge sheet filed by the government prosecutor states that RPP leader Uddhav Poudel, who is also Rabi's father-in-law, has made a payment of 8.125 million through 2 checks in the name of Gopi Krishna Movies, a company owned by RPP leader Uddhav Poudel. This evidence was also mentioned in the report of the Cooperative Investigation Committee led by Surya Thapa.

"It appears that a payment of Rs. 89.68 lakhs and 251 thousand rupees was made to his wife Nikita Poudel through four checks drawn by him and signed by Rabi Lamichhane from the bank account of Gorkha Media Network Pvt. Ltd., of which Lamichhane was the managing director and shareholder, and Rs. 81.25 lakhs and 2 checks were made to Gopi Krishna Movies through two checks," the chargesheet states.

Although Lamichhane joined Gorkha Media Network Private Limited as Managing Director on 30th Poush, 2077 BS and as a shareholder in Chaitra, 2077 BS, and separated from the said Pvt. Ltd. on 02nd March, 2079 BS, the charge sheet states that Ravi Lamichhane signed some checks before becoming an official of Gorkha Media Network Pvt. Ltd. and even after separating from the said Pvt. Ltd.

An analysis of the bank account statement shows that out of the amount deposited in the bank account of Gorkha Media Network Pvt. Ltd. by Sahara Chitwan Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited, Rs. 48.58 crore, 22.246 lakh, 246 rupees were paid through 814 checks with the sole signature of Rabi Lamichhane and Rs. 69.29 lakh, 246 rupees were paid through 6 checks with the joint signature of Gitendra Babu Rai and Rabi Lamichhane.