Crime

The Kathmandu District Court on Thursday extended the remand of cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane for five more days.

The court granted the police permission to keep Lamichhane in custody for further investigation as the previous seven-day remand expired on Thursday.

Advocate Saroj Krishna Ghimire, who is representing Lamichhane at the court, told reporters that the Metropolitan Crime Division of Nepal Police had sought to extend the deadline by another seven days. However, the single bench of Judge Surya Bahadur Thapa granted custody of five days.

Ghimire said that the court might further extend the remand of Lamichhane if the Nepal Police did not complete the investigation and present the file to the court by October 18.

On September 6, a 17-year-old girl filed a case against Lamichhane, accusing him of raping her on the night of August 21. The next day, the cricketer left Nepal with the national cricket team for Kenya to play a bilateral series there. After playing a three-match T20 series, Lamichhane left for Trinidad & Tobago, an island nation in the Caribbean, to play in the Caribbean Premier League.

On October 6, the police arrested Lamichhane upon his arrival at the Tribhuvan International Airport.

The police produced him before the Kathmandu District Court last Monday, asking for seven-day custody.

Earlier the police obtained the court warrant on September 7 to arrest the 22-year-old cricketer as per the minor girl's complaint filed at the Police Circle Gaushala. Subsequently, the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) suspended Lamichhane from the national team.