Nepal Court Releases Rape Accused Former IPL Star Sandeep Lamichhane On Bail

Sandeep Lamichhane was taken into custody in October last year after a 17-year-old girl accused him of raping her in a hotel room.

Kathmandu: Nepal cricket star Sandeep Lamichhane, who was accused of raping a minor, has been released on bail by the country’s top court on Thursday. The Patan High Court ordered release of Lamichhane with the bail of Rs 2 million, according to the court sources.

Lamichhane was taken into custody in October last year after a court in Nepal issued a arrest warrant against the Nepal cricket team captain on September 8. A 17-year-old girl had alleged that Lamichhane raped her in a hotel room in Kathmandu.

A joint bench of judges Dhruvaraj Nanda and Ramesh Dhakal decided to release the former IPL star on bail of Rs 2 million, reversing the decision of the Kathmandu district court. In October, 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”, before being arrested.

However, Lamichhane has been barred to leave the country until the final verdict of the court in the case. Lamichhane is Nepal’s most high-profile cricketer, and the first cricketer from Nepal to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL), when he made his debut for the Delhi Capitals franchise in 2018.

A wily leg-spinner, armed with a vicious googly, he was a much sought-after cricketer in other big-ticket T20 leagues around the world, including the Big Bash League (BBL) in Australia, the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and the CPL.

The prodigiously gifted cricketer holds the record for the world’s second-fastest bowler to capture 50 ODI wickets and the third-fastest to race to 50 T20I wickets. Lamichhane’s last international appearance came in August this year, when he played against Kenya in a T20I encounter.