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Former Nepal Cricket captain Sandeep Lamichhane has been convicted by the Kathmandu District Court of raping a minor girl on Friday, December 29. Lamichhane is currently out on bail and was part of Nepal in the Asia Cup 2023 as his last international game was against India in Pallekele on September 04, 2023.
Also Read: Nepal court releases cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane on bail in rape accusation case
A bench of Judge Shishir Raj Dhakal concluded its week-long hearing on Friday and confirmed that the girl was not a minor at the time of the rape in August 2022. The court will now announce his sentence on January 10, 2024, and the cricketer has reportedly been arrested.
The girl had filed a case against Sandeep Lamichhane on September 6 at the Metropolitan Police Circle, Gaushala. Then the cricketer was in Trinidad & Tobago travelling to play in the Caribbean Premier League. and the Nepal Police arrested him on October 6 at Tribhuvan International Airport.
The Kathmandu District Court on November 4, 2022, had asked to send Lamichhane to the Sundhara-based central jail after his detention hearing. Lamichhane took the case to the high court challenging the order. On January 12, the Patan High Court ordered the release of the cricketer after a review petition filed by Lamichhane with a bail bond of Rs 2 million with conditions.
Talking about his cricketing career, the 23-year-old has been one of Nepal's best cricketers in the country's history. He played over 100 international matches already and led the bowlers' rankings in both ODIs and T20Is. Notably, Lamichhane is the fastest bowler to 100 ODI wickets in history.