A day after the Nepal police launched an investigation into a rape complaint filed against Nepal captain Sandeep Lamichhane, the 22-year-old took to social media to dismiss all allegations. He also stated that he would return to his homeland and withdraw from the ongoing Caribbean Premier League.
“I am innocent. I’ve decided to take a leave from CPL and go back to my country within a few days. I am ready to face all these baseless allegations. Hope the law acts equal to everyone”,
he wrote on his Facebook account on September 8.
This comes just a day after the Cricket Association of Nepal suspended Lamichhane after he was charged with rape in a case filed by a 17-year-old girl. According to the complaint, the cricketer raped the girl in a hotel room in Kathmandu. She claimed Lamichhane took the girl to various locations in Kathmandu and Bhaktapur on August 21 and raped her at the hotel the next day.
The Kathmandu Court issued an arrest warrant for the cricketer based on the complaint filed at the Police Circle Gaushala, stating that they are investigating the matter and obtaining all relevant evidence in the case, including the hotel’s CCTV footage.
He was in the West Indies as part of the Jamaica Tallawahs squad for the CPL 2022. However, he did not appear in any of the team’s three games thus far and will be leaving the tournament. Moreover, the player has been suspended by by the Cricket Association of Nepal.
Lamichhane is the only Nepali player to have appeared in all of the world’s T20 leagues, including the Indian Premier League, Australia’s Big Bash League, Bangladesh Premier League, Lanka Premier League, and CPL.
He made his international debut in May 2018 and has since played 30 ODIs and 44 T20Is for Nepal. Lamichhane took over as Nepal’s captain in December 2021, succeeding Gyanendra Malla, and is now the sixth-youngest man to captain an ODI team. Lamichhane is also the second-quickest man to 50 ODI wickets and the third-fastest man to 50 T20I wickets.
