Chitwan, Nepal, August 26, 2019: Chitwan District Court has granted release of television journalist duo Rabi Lamichhane and Yuvaraj Kandel along with Asmita Karki, aka ‘Ruku’ on Monday.
Following the hearing of the writ filed by the Chitwan District Police, a single bench of Chitwan District Court Judge Hemanta Rawal issued the ruling to this effect.
Lamichhane was ordered to release on a bail of Rs 500000 while Kandel on a bail of Rs 300000. However, another defendant Karki was ordered to release on general date.
After taking into custody for 10 days, Chitwan District Police had on Sunday filed a charge-sheet against Lamichhane, Kandel and Karki at the Chitwan District Court in connection with the suicide case of journalist Shalikram Pudasaini. Chitwan Police had sought five years of jail term and Rs 5,000 fine against the defendants.
As a video footage recorded by Pudasaini on his mobile phone accusing the trio of abetting him to commit suicide came out, Lammichhane and Kandel were arrested from the newsroom of News24 by police on August 15.
Pudasaini, who had worked closely with Lamichhane for 'Janatasanga Sidha Kura', a popular TV show on News24 TV channel, was found hanging in a local hotel named as Kangaroo in Chitwan on August 6.
However, hundreds of thousand people had been demonstrating across the country against the arrest of Lamichhane claiming that he is innocent and the state is only trying to frame him.
