Nepal’s star player Sandeep Lamichhane has been sentenced to eight years of jail by Kathmandu Court in the rape case of a minor girl. A single bench of the Kathmandu District Court had found Lamichhane guilty of raping an 18-year-old woman on January 10. The court also charged him a fine of Rs 300,000 & ordered him to pay Rs 200,000 as compensation to the victim. Lamichhane’s lawyer, Saroj Ghimire, told AFP that he “will appeal the decision in a higher court.”
Earlier in September 2023, Lamichhane was suspended by the Cricket Association of Nepal after an arrest warrant was issued against him in Kathmandu over the matter. CAN took stringent action after a complaint against Lamichhane was filed at Kathmandu Police Station by a minor girl. At that time Lamichhane was in West Indies playing in the CPL 2022 for Jamaica Tallawahs. Immediately after the news of the issuance of an arrest warrant broke on the internet the club directed him to leave the tournament with immediate effect. Upon landing at the airport in Kathmandu in early October, he had been taken into custody.
Sandeep Lamichhane Arrested in Rape Case
Shortly before being arrested Lamichhane wrote on Facebook that he would “fully cooperate in all stages of the investigation and will fight a legal battle to prove my innocence” and called it a “conspiracy and wrongful allegation”. In February CAN decided to include him again in the team for the Cricket World Cup League 2 tri-series at home, against Namibia and Scotland. But the decision didn’t go well with Namibia & Scotland who chose to not shake hands with him after the games.
After the incident, CAN didn’t consider his name for Nepal’s team for the Cricket World Cup League 2 tri-series in Dubai in early 2023 but joined the team later as an injury replacement. He has continued to turn out for Nepal since then including at the ODI World Cup qualifier in Zimbabwe in June-July last year and the ODI Asia Cup in August-September 2023. On the day when Lamichhane was convicted on December 29, he led PARSA Club XI to a win over Nepal Army Club in a Nepal Pro Club Championship match in Birgunj.
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