| lola |
Posted
on 30-Jun-01 12:57 AM
Prince Paras: “We reached there a little after 7:30, about 7:40. Everyone else had come. Mummy, myself, sister and Himani (wife) were a little late. The Crown Prince appeared like he had already had some cocktails. (He asked) what would you like? I decided to have just a Coke. ‘I have been drinking whiskey,’ he said. He was ok until that time, but seemed intoxicated. (When I asked) what happened he said: ‘We’ve been discussing marriage. I spoke with mua (his mother) and with Afumuma (Queen Mother), both have said no.’ This was about eight o’clock.
At around eight the Queen Mother came, (Dipendra had fetched her)…again he served drinks, then at about 8:30 His Majesty arrived. At that time Dai (Dipendra) was with us inside, in the room where the incident took place. He seemed drunk and fell, as if he had passed out and was down on the floor. Gorkah, Nirajan, Rajeev and myself picked him up and told him we were taking him to his room because Thulobuba had already come. We took him up but did not put him in bed, we put him down on a floor mattress. At around 8:31-32 we turned off the lights and came down. His Majesty spent about half-an-hour with the Queen Mother. Then he came to the room where the incident took place. The king had just taken a drink. We had not even said cheers, we were in a corner and did not see the crown prince coming… that’s the corner where we usually stayed, we youngs (sic) used to stay there so (the elders) didn’t see us smoking. I did not see him coming, I only came to know he had come when the first shot was fired. He fired three rounds as he came in, His Majesty had just asked ‘What are you doing?’ Bang, bang, he was hit here and here (pointing). His Majesty fell. Dr Rajeev and I were together. Both of us rushed to him. Dr Rajeev reached His Majesty, but I was stopped by Princess Shoba. I went back and told the sisters to take cover and lie low. At about this time the Crown Prince came in again. I saw him shoot at His Majesty. I saw him shoot Dhirendra. When he was returning the second time Dhirendra said ‘Baba, you have done enough damage’. No sooner had he said that, than bang-bang one hit him here (pointing). Then he fell, and after that it was one after another, I cannot recall. I had already turned back and was helping the sisters to take cover. I saw His Majesty, Kumar Gorakh and Kumar Khadga fall, more or less at the same time. It was the MP-5 that had hit the three, this was the same MP-5 which His Majesty picked up. Princess Sobha took it away and removed the magazine, and put it down on the floor. Maybe she thought this was the only weapon, but Dai (Dipendra) also had other weapons, I had seen them. One handgun was on his left side the MP-5 was in his right pocket…I did not see what happened outside. He had the shotgun and the M-16 on his shoulders.
He may have gone in and come out within a minute, or perhaps 30 seconds. He came back with the big gun, an M-16, and hit Thulo Buba (King Birendra) in the head, then Kumar Khadga fell. I did not see Sruti come but saw her telling Gorakh, ‘Baba you have been hit.’ Princess Sarada went to where Kumar Khadga had fallen, she lay over his body sobbing “What has happened to you, what has happened to you?” The crown prince came back and shot her at point blank range…when he came for the third time he shot at Jayanti diju, Ketaki…and Sruti. Then he came towards the tall chair, we were directly in front of him. I said ‘What are you doing…what are you doing…please go.’ If he had shot: I was there, Mahesh was there, Rabi was there. I had hidden them there. My sister was behind Mahesh. My wife was there. I had hidden three of the (cousin) sisters there and another one behind what looks like a sofa. To Dai (Dipendra) I said: “Please, what are you doing, we are the only ones here”. One-by-one he looked at us and left. I got up and went to Kanchho Buba (Dhirendra). He told me: “Paras I can’t move my legs, please try to move them.” Then he told me to protect the children, I did not even seen my mother (Queen Komal) fall. She was trying to get up from under Princess Shanti. I went and helped muma get up…then I went to the Queen Mother’s room. I had heard firing outside and thought it came from there, but it was quiet in the room. I told them what had happened. By then the firing had stopped.
Dai’s ADC came saying ‘He shot himself, he shot himself’. I asked him where was Bhai (Nirajan), he said he had been shot. I asked where was Thulo Muma (the Queen) he told me Thulo Muma was down, everyone was down and Thulo Muma had no chance. I did not see what happened…outside Bhai (Dipendra) was lying down groaning in pain.
(Reasons for shooting) I think it was the marriage issue. This disucssion had begun on his last birthday. We discussed who were “against” and who were “with”. Bhai (Nirajan) and I were “with”. We did whatever he said. Rajeev was “with”, Sruti, Gorakh and other sisters were “against”. I think that was the main reason.”
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