Who called him for operation at 9pm?
"There should be a comprehensive investigation into who requested Dr Shrestha for surgery at 9 pm on May 18 and who was operated, or was not operated upon" the report, made public by the probe team on Wednesday, demands. [break]
"We could not obtain concrete facts about the surgical operation as people from the hospital concerned did not come into contact for investigations," the report adds, hinting that the doctor may have been hoaxed into going to the hospital for the operation.
The private hospital had said that Dr Shrestha had driven out of Chitwan Hospital at Chaubis Kothi, Bharatpur in his car for his quarters at 10:15 pm after the surgery. He has been missing since.
Narayani Community Hospital, where he was doing an operation before leaving for Chitwan Hospital, told the investigation team that he had received numerous calls saying a staffer at Chitwan Hospital was seriously ill and needed an immediate operation.
The seven-member team, which was led by NMA President Dr Kedar Narsingh KC and included Nepal Bar Association (NBA) President Prem Bahadur Khadka, human rights activist Sudeep Pathak, NMA General Secretary Dr Anjani Kumar Jha, Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) General Secretary Poshan KC, Constituent Assembly (CA) Member Mangal BK and Dr Bhola Rauniyar of NMA, Bharatpur, conducted investigations in Chitwan on Monday.
Why the police were not informed first?
The report has also revealed that Dr Shrestha´s going missing was first reported to Maoist Chitwan in-charge Anil Birahi and not the police. Birahi informed police about the case only at 2:30 am -- some four hours after he was called by legal officer of the cancer hospital Gokarna Sapkota, who was requested by Shrestha´s panicking wife Sheelu to inform police. Dr Shrestha was appointed executive director of the cancer hospital by the then Maoist-led government.
Where is the money?
The report has called for investigations into the status of Rs 1.15 million that Dr Shrestha withdrew from the Employees´ Welfare Fund at Thamel, Kathmandu a day before he went missing.
"Dr Shrestha went out of contact of his driver Krishna Bahadur Thapa and accountant Pitambar Upadhyay (the two had accompanied him on his trip to Kathmandu on May 16) after withdrawing the amount," the report states on the basis of the team´s discussions with Thapa and Upadhyay.
The three had come to Kathmandu in the cancer hospital car that Dr Shrestha was using and that was found in Pokhara after he went missing. While returning to Chitwan on May 17, Dr Shrestha had asked the accountant to ride in the car driven by Thapa while he himself drove the new Hyundai Tucson they had just bought in Kathmandu for the hospital.
The two vehicles were together till Dr Shrestha stopped the Hyundai at Mahadevsthan and the other car had to wait for him for 20 minutes at Malekhu.
Sudden happiness?
Dr Shrestha, who was seemingly worried and nervous throughout his Kathmandu trip, suddenly looked very happy, and although he generally did not eat fish he had proposed to the other two to have fish on reaching Malekhu.
The report has also raised questions about why he reached Malkehu 20 minutes later and what transpired in the meantime that suddenly made him happy.
Not a member of Unity
The report, meanwhile, has stated that Dr Shrestha was not a member of Unity Life International and claimed that rumors about his moral character were baseless. It has also slammed the prime minister, the minister for health and population and the home minister for their indifference toward the case.
10,000 signatures
Meanwhile, the Save Dr Bhakta Man Campaign collected 10,000 signatures in Chitwan demanding the doctor´s safe release and sent them to the prime minister.
Dr Shrestha´s 80-year-old father Chandra Man handed over the signatures, collected at different places in the district during the day, to Chief District Officer (CDO) Basanta Raj Gautam in the evening to forward them to the prime minister.
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