KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 10

Kathmandu District Court today remanded suspended national cricket captain Sandeep Lamichhane to seven days in judicial custody to let police interrogate him for allegedly raping a minor girl.

The judicial custody shall begin from October 6, the day police arrested him from Tribhuvan International Airport.

Lamichhane was produced before the court today as courts opened after Dashain holidays.

The police had asked for 10 days of judicial custody.

On September 6, a 17-yearold girl had filed a complaint against Lamichhane at Gaushala Police Circle. She had accused him of raping her at a hotel room in Sinamangal in Kathmandu on August 21. In the FIR she stated that she was Lamichhane's fan and had met him on social media. On August 21, they went to Bhaktapur and visited a hotel in Nagarkot.

While returning they got late and she could not go to her hostel, as it doesn't allow hostellers after 8:00pm. Lamichhane then took her to a hotel in Sinamangal and allegedly lured her to stay in the same room.

Lamichhane left for Kenya to participate in the Cricket T-20 series in Nairobi the very next day. Later, he had travelled to the West Indies to participate in the Caribbean Premier League.

Lamichhane, who was captain of the Nepal cricket team when accused of rape, was suspended from the national squad after the issuance of an arrest warrant against him.

On September 26, INTER- POL issued a diffusion notice against Lamichhane after Nepal Police suspected that he was on the run.

A version of this article appears in the print on October 11, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.