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
Maoist Chairman Dahal warned of stern protest if RSP chair Rabi Lamichhane is not released within 24 hours.
Fact
No, viral video from December shows Prachanda criticising government’s unfair treatment of Lamichhane
A video claiming that CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has warned of stern protest if Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Chairman Rabi Lamichhane is not released from custody within 24 hours is going viral on TikTok.
Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) chair Rabi Lamichhane was arrested on the evening of April 4 from his residence in Budhanilakantha, Kathmandu following an order from the Butwal bench of the Tulsipur High Court to take him in custody in connection with a cooperatives fraud case.
A joint bench of the high court justices Ramesh Dhakal and Swikriti Parajuli overturned a decision by the Rupandehi District Court, which had released Lamichhane on Rs10 million bail in January.
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @bbs_notes posted a video showing Maoist Chairman Prachanda delivering a fiery speech. In his speech, Dahal says, “Why is the government so frightened of Rabi Lamichhane? It is only proof of how weak the ruling Nepali Congress and CPN-UML are. They are so terrified with a single person. Today I must admit before you that Nepali Congress put forth the proposal of the Prime Minister to Lamichhane. Before I became the prime minister, when he was proposed for the post of prime minister, Rabi Lamichhane was the person who said it was not him but Prachanda should be made the prime minister. The CPN-UML tried really hard to provide favour to Rabi Lamichhane in order to make him their puppet, saying that a parliamentary probe panel is not needed. The person, who said that he should be investigated if he is guilty, has now been arrested by the party which was against the idea of forming an investigation committee. That’s too much. . .” Text superimposed on the video reads, “Prachanda is outraged. Warns of fierce protest if Rabi is not released within 24 hours.”
The 23-minute video posted on TikTok has garnered 30.3k likes, 1404 users have shared it and 853 people have commented until the last count.
The archived version of the video can be seen here.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the veracity of the claim, Newschecker closely observed the video and noticed the logo of Media Sathi on the top right corner. Taking a clue from the logo, we searched and found a YouTube channel with the name Media Sathi. We then scanned the video posted on the channel and found a video titled “Release Rabi immediately, if not I will start a fire: Prachanda.”
On checking the video, we found that the video from 0:22-minute onwards exactly matched the viral video. However, the video was posted on April 10, 2025.
We, then, looked up for recent reports of Pushpa Kamal Dahal defending Rabi Lamichhane and warning the government to release him. The search didn’t yield any relevant results.
Further, we took a key-frame from the viral video and ran a reverse search on it. A Google reverse search led us to a video, dated December 10, 2024, posted on the YouTube channel of popular media Deshsanchar online. The video from 13.49-minute exactly matched the viral video.
On checking the entire video, we found that Dahal was criticising the government for the arrest of Rabi Lamichhane earlier in October and taking him from one district to another for his alleged involvement in cooperative scams.
Further, we found an article, dated December 12, 2024, published on Ratopati online. On checking the article, we found that Prachanda, during his speech in Chitwan on December 10, criticised the government’s vindictive treatment of Rabi Lamichhane.
Thus, our findings clearly indicate that the viral video shows an old clip of Prachanda criticising the government for its cruel treatment of Rabi Lamichhane for his alleged involvement in a cooperative scam.
Conclusion
No, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has not warned of a stern protest if RSP chair Rabi Lamichhane is not released from custody within 24 hours.
Result: False
Sources
Kathmandu Post, April 5, 2025
Media Sathi TV, April 10, 2024
Deshsanchar /YouTube, Dec 10, 2024
Ratopati, Dec 12, 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.
