Rabi Lamichhane, chairman of the Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and former home minister, faced a protest in Pokhara where cooperative victims waved black flags at him. Lamichhane had arrived in the city to attend the party’s state-level program.
As he approached the Galaxy Banquet in Birauta, where an extended meeting of the RSP’s Gandaki province was underway, savers from the Suryadarshan Savings and Loan Cooperative Society demonstrated against him. The protestors accused Lamichhane of providing political protection to those involved in cooperative fraud, chanting slogans outside the venue.
The protest is linked to an ongoing fraud case involving the Suryadarshan Cooperative. On October 5, 2023, police filed a case in the Kaski District Court, demanding Rs. 1.11 Arba in connection with the scandal. Although the names of individuals such as Lamichhane and Dipesh, son of former Vice President Pun, were initially excluded from the scope of the investigation, a report from the metropolis listed their involvement.
Further investigation into the case was carried out by a team led by an inspector from the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), sent by then-CIB chief Kiran Bajracharya. The joint team of Kaski Police and CIB recommended that an inquiry should be conducted into the Suryadarshan Cooperative’s fraudulent activities, confirming that loans had been issued in the names of individuals, including Lamichhane.
