According to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Bhola Rawal, chief of Metropolitan Police Circle Kalimati, the pistol held by a police was triggered accidentally during a struggle between cops and the suspected stone-vase traders as the latter tried to seize the weapon. [break]
Shivam Kumar Rauniyar, a 20-year-old Indian national, received a bullet to his mouth and is said to be out of danger as the bullet only cut through his right cheek. “The firing was accidental and he escaped quite luckily,” said Rawal.
Police also arrested five others in the raid. They are identified as Prakash Sharma and Kushal Sharma of Lalitpur, Bibek Ghimire and Madhav Acharya of Kathmandu, and Bishnu Kumar Thapa of Ramechhap.
The alleged traders had claimed that the jade vase, purportedly imported from China, had the property of detoxifying poisons, police said. “We contacted them following a tip-off about their movement. We agreed to meet them at Soalteemode where the incident took place,” Rawal added.
The cops were called at the showroom of one Global Automobiles where Bibek and Bishnu work. “Shivam and Prakash, who were waiting outside the showroom, had attacked the cops and tried to confiscate the weapon,” Rawal said.
Police suspect that the group is likely to be a fraud group selling the vase for high prices with false claims of incredible quality. Rawal said that he was also investigating the legal status of possessing and trading in such item.
“We can say more about the vase on the basis of the forensic report,” he added.
“The vase is claimed to be made of jade, which is rare. They have not so far produced any legal document to possess that. That might be smuggling. If the material does not prove genuine, they will be booked on a fraud case,” he said.
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