The Patan High Court in Nepal has cleared Sandeep Lamichhane of rape charges, freeing him to return to cricket immediately—possibly even at the next T20 World Cup.
The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) informed ESPNcricinfo shortly after the court’s decision that Lamichhane will be taken into consideration for Nepal’s T20 World Cup squad, provided the ICC granted their clearance. The World Cup, which will be held in the West Indies and the USA from June 1 to June 29, has given all 20 participating teams until May 25 to submit their final 15-man lineups.
“Since the high court has cleared Sandeep Lamichhane from all the allegations, he is now cleared to play all forms of cricket,” a representative for CAN stated.
The Nepali provisional team has been training in St. Vincent and is now in the Caribbean. They will fly to the USA before the commencement of the competition; their main event match is scheduled for June 4 in Dallas, Texas, versus the Netherlands.
The Patan High Court’s spokesperson, Tirtharaj Bhattarai, informed the Kathmandu Post that Lamchhane’s clearance was based on “a lack of evidence”.
On January 10, it was revealed that Lamichhane had been found guilty of raping an 18-year-old lady by a single-judge bench of the Kathmandu court.
In addition, the judge penalised Lamichhane around US$2255 and mandated that he give the victim’s restitution of about US$15,000. Following the decision, Lamichhane was suspended by CAN on January 11.
Lamichhane filed an appeal against his prison sentence earlier this month, and he was allowed to remain out of custody while the case was pending.
Early in September 2022, Lamichhane—the captain of Nepal at the time—was suspended by CAN for the first time following the issuance of an arrest warrant in Kathmandu related to the incident. It happened when word spread that Lamichhane was the subject of a complaint filed with a Kathmandu police station.
Lamichhane was playing for the Jamaica Tallawahs in the CPL 2022 while he was in the West Indies. Lamichhane’s instant withdrawal from the tournament was announced by the club. When he had arrived at the Kathmandu airport in early October, he had been arrested.
In February of last year, he rejoined the Nepal team for a home Cricket World Cup League 2 tri-series against Namibia and Scotland, which was met with protests from domestic rights groups. The opponent players did not welcome him before or after the matches.
He was then left out of Nepal’s roster for the Cricket World Cup League 2 tri-series in Dubai in early 2023, although he later returned to the team as a replacement due to injury. Since then, he has played for Nepal once more, appearing in the ODI Asia Cup in August and September of last year as well as the ODI World Cup qualifier in Zimbabwe in June and July.