The suspended DSP of Nepal Police Prajit KC has been released on normal date in the case of smuggling of 33 kilograms of gold and murder of Sanam Shakya on Sunday.
The joint bench of justices Umesh Raj Paudel and Umesh Kumar Singh at the Biratnagar High Court has overturned the Morang District Court’s order to move the case forward by keeping him in judicial custody and ordered the court to conduct investigation of the case by releasing KC on date.
DSP KC and Sub-inspector Bal Krishna Sanjel were sent to Morang for investigation of the case by the then chief of the Metropolitan Police Crime Division Divesh Lohani.
The probe committee formed under Joint Secretary at the Home Ministry Ishwor Raj Paudel had concluded that SSP Lohani, DSP KC and Sub-inspector Sanjel had helped the main accused in the case Chuda Mani Uprety, aka Gore, escape.
The three were subsequently arrested and charged in the case along with other police personnel and others involved in gold smuggling.
The High Court on Friday had also released SP Lohani on normal date deeming the order given by the Morang District Court to keep Lohani in judicial custody is not in keeping with the laws
Lohani had told the probe committee that he had taken permission of AIG Bam Bahadur Bhandari, who was the acting chief of the force as the then IGP Prakash Aryal was on leave, before sending a crime division team to Morang for investigation of the case.
The High Court order pointed that the committee in its report submitted to the Home Ministry had stated that both AIG Bhandari and IGP Aryal should be investigated. “But it does not seem the two were asked,” the court order stated deeming the order by the Morang District Court to send Lohani to judicial custody to not be in accordance to the file submitted to the court.
The Morang District Court on May 22 had ordered to conduct hearing in the case by keeping 28 accused including eight police personnel in judicial custody. Cases were filed against 63 persons including nine serving and former police personnel with claims of Rs 17.018 billion in the smuggling of 33 kilograms of gold and murder of Shakya.
The issue of 33 kilograms of gold smuggled through the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) on January 23 came to the fore after the body of Shakya of Urlabari, who died while being tortured on charge of stealing that gold, was recovered in Biratnagar on March 2.
