| Nep |
Posted
on 07-Jun-01 09:23 AM
By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA, Associated Press Writer
KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - An eyewitness to the massacre of Nepal's royal family confirmed Thursday that the late crown prince gunned down the king, queen and other royals.
Dr. Rajiv Raj Shahi, the son-in-law of the late Prince Dhirendra, said he watched in horror as Crown Prince Dipendra shot his father and mother at close range and seven other members of the royal family before turning the gun on himself.
``It was the then-Crown Prince Dipendra who carried out the murders,'' Shahi said. ``He was just a murderer.''
Shahi's account was the first on-the-record eyewitness version of the events of last Friday night which have stunned this impoverished Himalayan nation. Some Nepalese, convinced the truth won't be told and appalled by new King Gyanendra early statement that the shooting was ``accidental,'' have reacted with violent riots.
Shahi, a military doctor, said that the killings were carried out within a span of 11/2 minutes, as Dipendra darted in and out of the large hall where the party was being held, killing a few relatives each time.
The doctor, who escaped bullets by jumping out of the way, said that the crown prince was drunk.
``He started to appear that he was intoxicated, really drunk,'' said Shahi, who spoke to reporters at the hospital where four members of the royal family were still recovering.
``He started to stammer and quarrel. It was a family gathering, so we decided to escort him away,'' he said.
Shahi, Prince Nirajan and the new king's son, Paras Shah, escorted him to his bedroom, he said.
Shahi, whose head was shaven in a traditional Hindu sign of mourning, narrated the sequence of events using a marker and sketch of the palace.
Shahi said that soon after the fracas with Dipendra, King Birendra went to an adjoining chamber to pay respect to Queen Aiswarya.
``About 9 p.m. I heard a burst of gunfire. I thought it was somebody playing a prank,'' Shahi recounted. ``There was shouting and I heard someone say, `His Majesty has been shot.'''
Shahi said that he was at the northern end of the hall when the shooting began. The king was toward the southern end and he fell near a billiards table.
``Being a doctor, I ran toward His Majesty. I took off my coat and pressed it against his neck where he was bleeding,'' Shahi said. ''(The king) said, `I have been shot in the stomach also.'''
He said Dipendra ran out of the hall and walked back in seconds later.
``My father-in-law (Prince Dhirendra) tried to stop the then-Crown Prince. He was shot at point-blank range on his chest.''
Dhirendra died in the hospital Monday night.
Dipendra, who had earlier changed into battle fatigues, came in a second time with an assault rifle. He shot three more people, went out again and came back in.
``By this time, Princess Shruti had moved to near her father. He then shot at Princess Shobha, Princess Shruti and His Majesty again,'' Shahi said. ``I jumped to the side to save myself.''
Crown Prince Dipendra turned to the other end of the hall where Paras Shah was standing with some female cousins, Shahi said.
``Had it not been for Prince Paras, probably there would not have been so many survivors,'' Shahi said.
Shahi, who narrated the gruesome events, would not take any questions from reporters. He declined to say what Paras Shah did to save the lives of some royals, but other eyewitnesses have said that he pushed several women under a table.
Shahi said the crown prince then shot three more people at close range, even several who had already been shot.
Shahi said that he escaped through a window to call for help, so he didn't see the next round of shooting.
``But from what I gathered, Queen Aiswarya went to confront the crown prince with what he had done,'' Shahi said.
He raised the gun at his mother.
``Prince Nirajan came in the center to save his mother. He was shot in the back,'' Shahi said.
He said that others told him that Crown Prince Dipendra then stood on a footbridge, over a stream, some distance away from where the queen and Nirajan lay dead. This is where the prince shot himself in the head with a pistol.
``What motivated him, I am not sure,'' Shahi said.
Some palace sources told The Associated Press that the crown prince and his mother had sharp words that night over the young woman that Dipendra wanted to marry, Devyani Rana, the daughter of a prominent Nepali businessman and granddaughter of an Indian maharaja.
Witnesses said the king and queen told Dipendra he could marry Ms. Rana but if he did so, his brother Nirajan would take his place as crown prince, according to a member of the State Council, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
After several days of rioting, Nepal's capital was quiet Wednesday as hundreds lined up at the palace and at impromptu shrines to pay tribute to slain King Birendra, who was revered by many Nepalese.
A probe ordered by the new King Gyanendra has been stalled for several days because the opposition leader of Parliament called the king's order unconstitutional and quit the commission of inquiry, which now was set to begin Friday and end Sunday.
Bringing back bad memories of the authoritarian rule that gripped Nepal before 1990, when absolute rule by monarchs was replaced by a constitutional monarchy that left kings with little formal power, police arrested three journalists on Wednesday for investigation of treason.
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