Fugitive cricket star Sandeep Lamichhane returned to Nepal on Thursday to face rape charges nearly a month after an arrest warrant was issued.
Lamichhane, who denies the charges, was immediately taken into custody, said Kathmandu district police spokesman Dinesh Raj Mainali. AFP.
Earlier, Lamichhane posted on his Facebook page that he was returning home to fight the charges.
“I will cooperate fully with all stages of the investigation and will fight a legal battle to prove my innocence. Justice prevails,” Lamichhane said.
Lamichhane was suspended as Nepal’s cricket captain after a court in the country issued the arrest warrant on September 8.
This followed an accusation by a 17-year-old that the 22-year-old had raped her in a hotel room in Kathmandu in August.
Lamichhane failed to return to Nepal from Jamaica where he was playing in the Caribbean Premier League.
He was the poster boy for the rise of cricket in mountainous Nepal, which was granted One Day International status by the world governing body in 2018.
The leg spinner’s big break came when he was signed by the Delhi Capitals for the lucrative Indian Premier League in 2018.
He has since been the most searched Nepalese cricketer in the international Twenty20 leagues.
Last month, Lamichhane released a statement on social media reiterating that the charges against him were baseless and defending his decision not to return to Nepal.
“The news of the warrant for my arrest… made me mentally confused. I didn’t know what to do and what not to do,” he wrote.
“My health is gradually improving and I plan to return to Nepal as soon as possible to vehemently retaliate (against the allegations).”
Shortly after, Nepali police said they had requested Interpol’s assistance with a “broadcast” notice asking member countries to cooperate in bringing Lamichhane back to the country to face charges.
Police say around 2,300 cases of rape were reported in Nepal in the last fiscal year, but rights advocates say many more assaults go unreported.
Only a handful of women in Nepal spoke out during the #MeToo movement and the defendants faced little to no repercussions over the allegations.
The charges against Lamichhane come after popular Nepali actor Paul Shah was recently convicted of sexual misconduct with a minor.
He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and ordered to compensate his victim.
In May, hundreds of people demonstrated in Kathmandu for better laws and enforcement in cases of sexual violence after an aspiring model posted a series of TikTok videos detailing abuse when she was a teenager.
