- Media baron shot dead in broad daylight
- Police tap jailbirds for information
- Bike used in Shah´s murder found
- Jamim Shah: End of a life mired in controversies
The revelation comes at a time when Metropolitan Police Range Kathmandu (MPRK) chief SP Ganesh KC, at his first press meet on Tuesday after the incident, said he believed the criminals were still hiding in the capital and would be arrested soon. [break]
While police highlighted the find of the motorbike used by the hitmen as a new point of departure to step up investigations, they are known to be certain the criminals including the main planner, one Babloo, have already left the capital.
The Yamaha Crux motorbike was found in the Sanglekhola area in Goldhunga-1, a suburb north of the capital city. The place where the motorbike was found abandoned in the bush is difficult terrain some 50 meters below a local road.
The motorbike, going by its number plate (Ba 17 Pa 8733), was registered in the name of Mikeri Saving and Co-operative Ltd, Mahalaxmisthan, Lalitpur. Police are yet to find out whom the company had financed the motorbike for.
Investigative officials estimate that the murderers might have escaped through the north-west entry zone of the Valley after dumping the bike in an area which is at least a 30 minutes´ drive from downtown.
However, KC argued that it was not possible to locate the terrain chosen for dumping the bike without the help of ´familiar´ ones, hinting at the ´wider part´ the investigation could reach out to. "It is not likely that outsiders alone could have located the place," he added.
KC also said that the mastermind in the conspiracy, who was believed to be still living with his hitmen, was tracked in the capital through his cell phone by Sunday evening. However, investigative officials who request anonymity told myrepublica.com that police had only worked on a tip-off from some notorious jail inmates who are believed to have links with the underworld. "There is no way one can depend on that information to nab criminals in the capital," sources said.
It is also learnt that police are focusing their investigation on the whereabouts of Bharat Nepali, who is believed to be an aide to notorious Indian underworld don Chota Rajan. Nepali is also said to have called up the offices of Avenues Television and Cable Television Association on Monday to assume responsibility for the incident. "Our teams are to move to possible places in the Tarai, looking for him," said a source.
Meanwhile, intelligence sources have also linked Shah´s murder with a series of murders in the western Tarai over a couple of months. The murder of Majid Marihar, considered as a fake currency racketeer, on October 2 in Nepalgunj and that of Parbez Chanda alias Shaukat Ahmed, who was in the most wanted list of the UP government, on December 25 in Butwal could be part of a series ending up with Shah´s killing, sources say.
Meanwhile, SP KC also disclosed that Shah could have been informed about threats to him at least one month before. "It is not known that he had shared anything about this with family and friends," he said.
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