KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 7
Nepal's national cricket team captain Sandeep Lamichhane has been accused of raping a 17-year-old girl.
Kathmandu District Police Range said an FIR was filed against Lamichhane by the minor girl with her elder brother as her guardian at Gaushala Police Circle, Kathmandu, yesterday.
In the FIR, the girl has stated that Lamichhane took her to different places in Kathmandu and Bhaktapur on August 21, before driving her to a hotel in Kathmandu where he allegedly raped her multiple times the same night.
Police have confiscated the CCTV footage of the Sinamangal-based hotel where the two had spent the night and also that of the hotel in Nagarkot which they had visited earlier in the day. "We have acquired the CCTV footage of the two hotels and started investigation into the case," said Chief of Kathmandu Police Range Senior Superintendent Bharat Bahadur Bohora.
"However, we are in no position to comment on the allegation," Bohora added.
A reliable source told THT that the girl had stated in the FIR that she was Lamichhane's fan and met her online.
After talking to him on a messaging site she agreed to meet him on August 21. They went to Bhaktapur and Nagarkot during the day. She wanted to return to her Kathmandu-based hostel in the evening, but since the hostel bars entry to hostellers after 8:00pm, Lamichhane took her to a hotel in Sinamangal where they stayed in the same room.
Lamichhane, who hails from Chitwan and rose to fame in a short span of time, is in West Indies to play in the Caribbean Premier League.
He had left Nepal on August 22 morning.
Lamichhane was announced the captain of Nepal's national cricket team in December 2021, replacing Gyanendra Malla.
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A version of this article appears in the print on September 8, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
