| sparsha |
Posted
on 07-Jun-01 03:04 PM
News taken from hindustan times.
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Jury still out in Nepal, not the truth
HT Correspondent
(Kathmandu, June 6)
THE VEIL of secrecy that covers Friday night’s palace massacre has been made more opaque by layers of suspicion.
As Nepal simmered, two Western newspapers and an Indian television channel today reported that the original story to have come out of the palace held good. Quoting ‘relatives of an eyewitness’, the reports claimed the assassin was Crown prince Dipendra. But investigations by the Hindustan Times suggest that a lot is still unexplained.
Informed sources have pointed out two glaring discrepancies in the crazed Crown Prince version:
-The Washington Post and The Times , London reported that after shooting his family, Dipendra shot himself in the head with a pistol. The entry wound, according to a source close to a doctor who attended to the late King, was on Dipendra’s left temple.
What no one has asked so far is, why would the right-handed Crown Prince try to commit the final act of his life with his left hand?
-King Birendra’s youngest brother, Prince Dhirendra was reported to have grappled with his inebriated nephew as Dipendra went on his shooting spree. On the night of June 1, Dhirendra, who had renounced the trappings of royalty after his 1987 marriage to a British national, was taken to the Birendra Military Hospital. The diagnosis: broken ribs and an injury to his right hand.
One June 2, the doctors said he was out of danger. Two days later, he was declared dead. “This is indeed very strange,” said a source.
But there is more that doesn't seem to add up. Dipendra was not involved in any marriage discussions with his father and mother on Friday night, Star TV’s bulletin said, but is reported to have returned to the palace around 10 p.m. so drunk that he could hardly walk.
Seeing his condition, the King is believed to have told Paras, the present King’s only son, and an ADC to carry Dipendra to his bedroom, a floor above where the royals were gathered.
Dipendra is supposed to have slept there for some time, waking to consume some marijuana and cocaine. He then came down with an Uzi and an M-16 in his hands and a pistol sticking out of his pocket.
He first fired in the air, as if to warn all the guests, then rained bullets on the King, his youngest brother, his sister and others present.
Dhirendra, a karate black belt, tried to stop Dipendra, grappled with the heavily drunk man and sustained injuries. By this time, Queen Aishwarya had run out of the room. Dipendra followed her and shot her dead in the garden outside.
At this stage, Paras, pleaded with Dipendra, “Brother, you have caused enough damage, stop!” Like an obedient child, Dipendra dropped the guns, re-entered the drawing room, stood in front of an image of Goddess Durga at one end and shot himself.
Medical experts find it hard to believe that someone who could barely walk an hour before could go run down the stairs and fire from such heavy guns.
Dipendra’s room on the first floor overlooks the drawing room below. Those present couldn’t possibly have missed the Crown Prince staggering down the stairs with two rifles. So why didn’t they run for cover or shout for the guards?
The Narayanhity Palace is a heavily guarded fortress, and the King’s personal guards comprise an elite force drawn from the army. Moreover, sources reveal that at the June 1 gathering, there were at least 22 members from the royal family. That means they were escorted by 22 armed ADCs, waiting just outside the drawing room. What were they doing?
The Queen was apparently chased out into the garden, where there are heavily armed commandos patrolling. Did they try and stop Dipendra?
The bloodstains in the Nepalese Royal Palace will have been washed clean by now, but doubts about last Friday’s massacre refuse to go away.
(With inputs from London and Washington)
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