Police begins investigation into Former Home Minister’s dual passport case

The police have started an investigation into the passport of Rastriya Swatantra Party President Rabi Lamichhane.

The police, who had refused to accept the complaint against Lamichhane, who is also the former Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, has now started an investigation.

Yuvaraj Poudel had submitted an application at the District Government Attorney’s Office in Kathmandu on Tuesday after the police refused to register the complaint that demands legal action against Lamichhane for holding a dual passport.

Senior Superintendent of Police Dan Bahadur Karki, head of the district police complex said that an investigation has been started also by keeping the complaint given by Yuvaraj Paudel ‘Safal’.

On January 31, police refused to register a complaint against Lamichhane saying that the Supreme Court is yet to issue the full text on Lamichhane’s citizenship case.

Lamichhane had obtained a Nepali passport using his invalid Nepali citizenship when he already had a United States passport.

However, he already submitted his Nepali passport to the Department of Passports after reacquiring Nepali citizenship from the District Administration Office, Kathmandu.

In 1994 Lamichhane received Nepali citizenship by descent. In March 2014(after 20 years) , he acquired American Citizenship.

So as per the Citizenship Act, he automatically lost the Nepali citizenship after receiving American citizenship.

Lamichhane returned back to Nepal in June 2014 and then in May next year.

Though Lamichhane in 2018 renounced his American citizenship, he didn’t apply to revive his Nepali citizenship.

In May 2015, he acquired a Nepali passport by using the citizenship he got in 1994, even though the citizenship certificate had been automatically invalidated in March 2014.

So, the Supreme Court had scrapped Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Rabi Lamichhane’s status as a member of the House of Representatives saying that his failure to re-acquire Nepali citizenship after renouncing his United States citizenship prevented him from becoming a national lawmaker.

According to section 21 of the Passport Act, one who receives or attempts to get a passport or travel documents by submitting false details can be fined Rs200,000 to half a million rupees and imprisoned for one to three years or both.

If Lamichhane is found guilty, he might be barred from electoral politics for life.

Rabi Lamichhane, a former television personality rose into politics in the 2022 general elections. Before the election, a writ petition was filed against him claiming he wasn’t a Nepali citizen asking the Election Commission to void his candidacy.

Lamichhane had contested and won election of the House of Representatives (HoR) with a huge margin from Chitwan constituency 2.