Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
Claim
Rastriya Swatantra Party Chair Rabi Lamichhane released from custody.
Fact
Viral video is from 2019 when he was freed from custody after his arrest in a suicide abetment case.
A video claiming to show Rastritya Swatantra Party (RSP) Chairman Rabi Lamichhane speaking to his supporters after his release from police custody are going viral on TikTok.
RSP Chairman Rabi Lamichhane, who is also a former deputy prime minister and home minister, was arrested on October 18 on charges of embezzling cooperative funds and organised crime. Calling the arrest an act of vendetta by the government, supporters of Rabi Lamichhane have been staging protests in Pokhara.
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @i_love_you_my_mutu posted a video showing Rabi Lamichhane wearing garlands and flanked by his wife Nikita Poudel who speaks on camera. In the clip, Nikita says, “Thank you so much to all of you the entire Chitwan residents for extending such a huge support to him.” In the audio another person is heard asking the question, “Rabi Lamichhane has hundreds of thousands of well-wishers among them number one is.” The video stops abruptly before the question is completed. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Response to the media after the release of Rabi Lamichhane from custody.”
The video posted on October 29 has garnered 126.3k likes, 1366 users have shared it and 2,281 people have commented until the last count. 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, Newschecker split the video into several key-frames and conducted reverse searches on them. A Google reverse search led us to a video, dated August 26, 2019, posted on the YouTube channel named Ramailo Chha.
On checking the 12-minute long video, we found that the footage from 3.55-minute onwards exactly matched the viral video. It was clear that the video was from August 2019.
Further, we ran a Google search for Nepali keywords ‘Rabi Lamichhane freed from custody” found several articles (see here, here & here) regarding the release of then television journalist Rabi Lamichhane on bail.
An article, dated August 27, 2019, published on the Himalayan Times online, reported that TV host Rabi Lamichhane and two others, who were arrested on the charge of abetting the suicide of News24 Television journalist Salikram Pudasaini, were released on bail.
Thus, our findings clearly showed that the viral video showed old footage of Rabi Lamichhane and his wife Nikita Poudel responding to the media after the release of Lamichhane in August 2019 when he was arrested on the charge of abetting suicide of his colleague.
We also checked the latest status of Rabi Lamichhane’s custody and found an article, dated November 5, 2024, published on Kathmandu Post online that confirmed that the Kaski District Court has extended the remand of Lamichhane by another 10 days for additional investigation.
Conclusion
No, RSP Chair Rabi Lamichhane has not been freed from custody. The viral video shows an old clip showing Lamichhane responding to the media after his release on bail following his arrest on suicide abetment of his colleague in August 2019.
Result: Missing Context
Sources
Ramailo Chha/YouTube, Aug 26, 2019
Himalayan Times, Aug 27, 2019
BBC Nepali, Aug 26, 2019
Setopat English, August 26, 2019
Kathmandu Post, Nov 5, 2024
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Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
