One hour later, Dipendra returned to the party armed with an H&K MP5 and an M16 and fired a single shot into the ceiling before turning the gun on his father, King Birendra. Seconds later, Dipendra shot one of his aunts. He then shot his uncle Dhirendra in the chest at point-blank range when he tried to stop Dipendra.During the shooting,
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| Royal Family of Nepal |
The Nepalese royal massacre occurred on 1 June 2001, at a house in the grounds of the Narayanhity Royal Palace, then the residence of the Nepalese monarchy,under the control of the authority of the then government declared that, when the heir to the throne, Prince Dipendra, was blamed of killing nine members of his family and himself. However, the majority of citizens in Nepal condemned and disapproved the press conference issued, which referred to the Late King Dipendra as a mass murderer. The dead included King Birendra of Nepal and Queen Aiswarya. Prince Dipendra became de jure King of Nepal upon his father's death and died whilst in a coma three days after the act; however there are claims that Dipendra was already dead before being declared as the King. Gyanendra then became king.
Overview of events
According to reports, Dipendra had been drinking heavily and had "misbehaved" with a guest, which resulted in his father, King Birendra, telling his son to leave the party. The drunken Dipendra was taken to his room by his brother Prince Nirajan and cousin Prince Paras.
One hour later, Dipendra returned to the party armed with an H&K MP5 and an M16 and fired a single shot into the ceiling before turning the gun on his father, King Birendra. Seconds later, Dipendra shot one of his aunts. He then shot his uncle Dhirendra in the chest at point-blank range when he tried to stop Dipendra.During the shooting, Prince Paras suffered slight injuries and managed to save at least three royals, including two children, by pulling a sofa over them.
During the attack, Dipendra darted in and out of the room firing shots each time. His mother, Queen Aishwarya, who came into the room when the first shots were fired, left quickly, looking for help.
Dipendra's mother Aishwarya and his brother Nirajan confronted him in the garden of the palace, where they were both shot dead. Dipendra then proceeded to a small bridge over a stream running through the palace, where he shot himself.
Lamteri, a junior army staff at Narayanhiti Palace, claimed that he saw Dipendra, who got six bullet shots on his back and one on the left hand, in an inebriated state in his private room before the royal family was killed.
Victims of the massacre
- King Birendra, father
- Queen Aishwarya, mother
- Prince (later HM King) Dipendra
- Prince Nirajan, brother
- Princess Shruti, sister
- (Prince) Dhirendra, King Birendra's brother who had renounced his title
- Princess Jayanti, King Birendra's cousin
- Princess Shanti, King Birendra's sister
- Princess Sharada, King Birendra's sister
- Kumar Khadga, Princess Sharada's husband
Wounded
- Princess Shova, King Birendra's sister
- Gorakh Shamsher, Princess Shruti's husband
- Princess Komal, Prince (now former King) Gyanendra's wife and former Queen
- (Princess) Ketaki Chester, King Birendra's cousin who had renounced her title
- Prince Paras
Aftermath
Dipendra was proclaimed King while in a coma, but he died on 4 June 2001, after a three-day reign. Gyanendra was appointed regent for the three days, then ascended the throne himself after Dipendra died.
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| King Birendra Shah |
While Dipendra lived, Gyanendra maintained that the deaths were the result of an "accidental discharge of an automatic weapon". However, he later said that he made this claim due to "legal and constitutional hurdles", since under the constitution, and by tradition, Dipendra could not have been charged with murder had he survived. A full investigation took place, and Crown Prince Dipendra was found to be responsible for the killing.
The widely circulated rumor is that Prince Dipendra was angry over a marriage dispute. Dipendra's choice of bride was Devyani Rana, daughter of Pashupati SJB Rana, a member of the Rana clan, against whom the Shah dynasty have a historic animosity.[citation needed] The Rana clan had served as the hereditary prime ministers of Nepal until 1951, with the title Maharaja, and the two clans have a long history of inter-marriages.
A two-man committee comprising Keshav Prasad Upadhaya, the then-Supreme Court Chief Justice, and Taranath Ranabhat, the then-Speaker of the House of Representatives, carried out the week-long investigation into the massacre. The investigation concluded, after interviewing more than a hundred people including eyewitnesses and palace officials, guards and staff, that Dipendra had carried out the massacre. Large number of critics and Nepalis, both inside Nepal and abroad, disputed the official report because many facts and evidence reported by the investigation team seemed in contradictory in many aspects. A close aide of Dipendra when he was prince said of Dipendra, "He can give up the throne for the sake of his love, but he can never do this kind of thing."
Ceremonial response
On 11 June 2001, a Hindu katto ceremony was held to exorcise or banish the spirit of the dead King from Nepal. A brahmin Durga Prasad Sapkota, dressed as Birendra to symbolise the late King, rode an elephant out of Kathmandu and into symbolic exile, taking many of the actual belongings of the King with him.
Conspiracy theories
Many Nepalese people are skeptical of the official report that the then Crown Prince Dipendra carried out the murder. King Birendra and his son Dipendra were very popular and well respected by the Nepalese population. Many suspect that Gyanendra was responsible for the royal palace massacre, possibly in connection with Intelligence services of India. Subsequently, the chairman of Nepal Maoists Party Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, in a public gathering claimed that the massacre was planned by Indian Intelligence Agency RAW or American CIA. Promoters of these ideas allege Gyanendra had a hand in the massacre so that he could assume the throne himself. His ascension to the throne would only be possible if both of his nephews Dipendra and Nirajan were eliminated. Moreover, Gyanendra and specially his son Paras were grossly unpopular with the public. On that fateful day he was out of town (in Pokhara) while rest of the royals were attending a dinner function. His wife Komal, son Paras and daughter Prerana were in the room at the royal palace during the massacre. While the entire families of Birendra and Dhirendra were wiped out, nobody amongst Gyanendra's family died; his son escaped with slight injuries, his wife sustained a bullet wound but survived.
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| Narayanhiti Royal Palace, Kathmandu, Nepal |
Despite the fact that two survivors have publicly confirmed that Dipendra did the shooting, as was documented in a BBC documentary, many Nepali people still consider it a mystery. After the monarchy was abolished through a populist uprising there have been several claims refuting the official report among them is a recent book published in Nepal named Raktakunda recounting the massacre. It looks at the incident through the eyes of one of the surviving witnesses, Queen Mother Ratna's personal maid, identified in the book as Shanta. The book, which the author says is a "historical novel", posits that two men masked as Crown Prince Dipendra fired the shots that led to the massacre. Shanta's husband, Trilochan Acharya, also a royal palace employee, was killed along with 10 royal family members, including the entire family of King Birendra. In addition to details of the royal massacre, Shanta alleged many other cover-ups by the royal family, including a claim that the previous king King Mahendra committed suicide.
A Nepalese soldier claiming to be an eyewitness to the tragedy has said Crown Prince Dipendra, blamed for the ghastly act, was killed before the rest of his family members on the fateful Friday night. Dipendra was killed on 1 June at the Royal palace before his father King Birendra and mother Queen Aishwarya died of gun shots during a dinner party, Lal Bahadur Lamteri told Nepali language newspaper Naya Patrika. The paper also questioned the official probe commission's report holding Dipendra responsible for the killings. Most of the Nepalese people also do not back the official version and believe that there was a conspiracy involved to eliminate the royal family following which the last King Gyanendra succeeded his brother Birendra to the throne.
Lamteri, a junior army staff deputed at the Narayanhiti Palace during the period, gave claims to Naya Patrika that Paras, son of ousted King Gyanendra and cousin brother of Dipendra, came to the palace dinner party that night accompanied by a person wearing a Dipendra look-alike mask, who shot Dipendra dead before other royal family members were killed.
Original Article at Wikipedia
