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
Kulman Ghising urged his supporters to welcome Rabi Lamichhane with flowers and garland.
Fact
Viral video shows Ghising’s press meet after his dismissal as NEA chief.
A video showing sacked executive director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Kulman Ghising allegedly revealing the news of Rabi Lamichhane’s release from custody is going viral on TikTok.
Earlier on March 24, the government sacked NEA executive director Kulman Ghising after seeking several clarifications from him. Ghising was appointed the NEA head in 2021.
On April 5 Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) chair Rabi Lamichhane was arrested 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.
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @bbs_notes posted a video showing Ghising addressing the media. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Kulman Ghising brings the news that Rabi Lamichhane will be released, friends we will work together please get ready with flowers and garlands.”
In his address, Ghising says, “Friends from media. I had the opportunity to serve the Nepal Electricity Authority, its consumers and the entire country after I was reappointed as NEA executive director for a second term on August 11, 2021 by Nepal government. I feel proud to have been able to work day and night with dedication to serve the nation and its people by remaining within Nepal’s constitution and existing laws. When the Cabinet was preparing to remove me from the post I was busy to light a settlement of marginalised Chepang community in a remote village of Makwanpur. Some of the groups and power centers might have felt themselves to have been successful in their ill-intentioned objective to let down a civil employee carrying out his duty of providing quality, reliable and secured electricity to Nepali people. The love and blessings of the Nepali people have not let me feel defeated. I have only left the NEA, not my responsibilities as a citizen… ,” Ghising noted.
The video posted on April 15 has garnered 29.6k likes, 707 users have shared and 737 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 ran reverse searches on it. A Google reverse search led us to a video, dated April 4, 2025, posted on the YouTube channel named Ujyalo TV. On checking the video, we found that the video frame from 1:03-minute onwards exactly matched the viral video. The video title and descriptions clearly suggested that the video showed Kulman Ghising’s press meet after his removal as NEA chief. We listened to the entire address of Ghising, but we didn’t find him speak about RSP Chairman Rabi Lamichhane and his intention to work together with him.
Taking a clue from it, we ran a search on YouTube and found several videos from Ghising’s recent press meeting. On checking another video, dated April 4, 2025, posted on the YouTube channel of Onlinekhabar we found the video matched the viral video. However, we didn’t find him utter a single word about Rabi Lamichhane.
Further, we looked up the news reports if Ghising spoke about his future plan to work together with Rab Lamichhane. We didn’t find any relevant results. Thus, our findings clearly showed that the viral video showed Ghising addressing a press meet after his dismissal as NEA chief.
Conclusion
No, Kulman Ghising didn’t say that Rabi Lamichhane will be released soon. The viral video shows Ghising’s press meet after he was removed from NEA chief.
Result: False
Sources
Ujyalo TV /YouTube, April 4, 2025
Online Khabar, April 4, 2025
Kathmandu Post, April 4, 2025
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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.
