Old Clip Of RSP Chair Rabi Lamichhane Being Released On Bail Shared As Recent

Claim
 Former Home Minister and Rastriya Swatantra Party Chairman Rabi Lamichhane has been released on bail.
Fact
Old video showing Rabi Lamichhane being released on bail is shared as recent.

A video allegedly showing former Home Minister and Rastriya Swatantra Party Chairman Rabi Lamichhane, who has been taken into custody for cooperative fraud charges, being released is going viral on TikTok.

Lamichhane, who escaped from Nakkhu jail during Gen Z protest on September 9, returned to the prison on September 13 after the authority issued a notice for all absconding inmates including Lamichhane to return to the prison. He was arrested earlier this year in April following an order from the Butwal bench of the Tulsipur High Court in connection with a cooperatives fraud case. Rabi Lamichhane was transferred from Rupandehi Prison to Nakkhu Prison in Lalitpur on August 16, 2025.

Against this backdrop, TikTok user @harijamm posted a video showing Rabi Lamichhane, accompanied by police personnel and his supporters on the premises of Kathmandu District Court. Text superimposed on the video reads,  “Rabi released.” In the video Rabi Lamichhane says, “Thank you everyone. I had said I came to cooperate with judicial procedure. I honour the court. I would like to express my special thanks to the judiciary. Justice has not died in this country.”

The video posted on October 31 has garnered 22.4k likes, 722 users have shared it and 865 people have commented on it.

The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.

Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.

Fact Check /Verification

To check the veracity of the claim, Newscheker split the video into several key frames and ran reverse searches on it. The reverse searches threw up several videos bearing close resemblance to the viral video. On checking a video, dated January 15, 2025, posted on the Facebook page of Citizen HD, we found that the clip showing Lamichhane speaking to the media and thanking the court exactly matched the viral video.

We also found another video, dated January 15, 2025, posted on the YouTube channel named DC Nepal TV. The video from 0:11-minute onwards exactly matched the viral video. The article title reads, “Rabi released on Rs 6 million bail and he says justice has not died in this country.”

On digging further, we found an article, dated January 15, 2025, published on eKantipur.com. The article carries Lamichhane’s photo similar to his appearance on the viral video. The article also reported that Rabi Lamichhane was released on Rs 6million bail after which he said ‘justice is alive in this country.”

Newschecker looked for the latest status of Rabi Lamichhane and found an article, dated November 6, 2025, posted on Kathmandu Post online. The article reported that the Butwal bench of the Tulsipur High Court on Thursday ordered authorities to submit the initial files related to the cooperative fraud and organised crime case against Rabi Lamichhane and former Gorkha Media Network director Chhabi Lal Joshi. The article quoted a court official saying that the bench ordered submission of the original files after Lamichhane requested to be released from judicial custody upon repaying the alleged misappropriated amount.

However, we did not find any reports regarding the court order on the case.

Thus, our findings clearly indicated that the viral video is from earlier this year in January when Rabi was released on bail by Kathmandu District Court.

Conclusion

No, the viral video does not show Rabi Lamichhane being released from Nakkhu jail where he is currently being held in custody. The viral video actually shows an old clip showing Lamichhane being released on bail by Kathmandu District Court. Thus, the claim is misleading.

Result: Misleading

Sources
Citizen HD/Facebook , Jan 15, 2025
DC Nepal TV/YouTube, Jan 15, 2025
eKantipur.com, Jan 15, 2025