Maoist cadres are seen keeping close watch at Dr Shrestha´s quarters on the hospital premises while district-level Maoist leaders are seen holding discussions inside the residence, according to sources. Media persons can meet the family only after Maoist permission and the Maoists have recently started keeping log of the visitors. [break]
Wife Sheelu and elder daughter Julia were living at the hospital quarters with the doctor but his younger daughter, parents Chandra Man and Mishri Devi and Sheelu´s parents Brij Kumar Shrestha and Bishnu Laxmi have also moved into the house since his abduction.
There are hospital guards stationed under a mango tree for the security of the family while the Maoists have kept pro-Maoist hospital staffers with the family to keep constant watch.
These staffers have prevented the family from interacting with the media. If someone starts talking with the family, these people interrupt and ask the family not to speak.
A board member of the hospital, Prem Rimal, once ordered wife Sheelu to go inside her room while she was talking to the media. Rimal is also a Maoist sympathizer and was appointed to the hospital board by the then Maoist government.
Hospital staffer Anupa Thapa, who is close to the Maoists, is currently staying with the Shrestha family. Thapa had stopped media persons from meeting the family by saying that Sheelu was unwell on Friday.
Dispute among hospital doctors
Differences among doctors at the hospital is growing after it was revealed that Dr Shrestha is in Maoist captivity. Some doctors are feeling insecure after the incident while others are taking exception to the news published about them.
"I am afraid to speak fearing that they may also take me. But I can´t remain quiet," a doctor close to Dr Shrestha confided. While the majority of doctors are close to Dr Shrestha, they are still afraid to speak about the matter.
Administrative officer Indira Parajuli, on the other hand, is furious that her differences with Dr Shrestha made news and was seen clarifying to the media that she had no serious differences with the doctor.
Doctors of other hospitals also are not sure about what to do next. The doctors who had come together to put pressure for his release now are meeting Sunday evening to decide about future steps.
The private hospitals have decided to resume their services from Monday while the Save Dr Bhakta Man Campaign is also mulling over changing the modality of its protest.
Indira´s husband, a close aide to Thapa
Meanwhile, Soma Kanta Baral, husband of Indira Parajuli, the administrative officer of the hospital, has been found to be a close aide of UCPN (Maoist) General Secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa.
Officials said they are now investigating Baral´s connection with the Maoists and the reported differences between Dr Shrestha and Parajuli. High-profile police investigation into the case is now directed toward the Maoists after their incoherent posture regarding the incident.
Baral, a staffer since the inception of the hospital, now works there as a lab technologist. Indira was appointed administrative officer after Dr Shrestha began his term as executive director. Earlier, she was an NGO worker. Dr. Shrestha himself had reportedly helped her get the job.
Both Dr Shrestha and Baral are from the Madi area in Chitwan. Baral had long been a Maoist supporter, sources said. He had taken 10 days´ leave from the office during the CA elections to campaign for Thapa in constituency no 2 of Chitwan, hospital sources said.
Dr Shrestha, who was appointed the executive director of the hospital for a three-year-term, later saw differences growing between him and Parajuli. As Parajuli reportedly started disobeying him, Dr Shrestha decided to cut down some of exclusive facilities she had been enjoying. But the decision has not yet been implemented.
Dr Shrestha´s going missing was at first reported not to police but to Maoist district in-charge Anil Sharma. Sharma had reportedly said that he first deployed YCL men to search for Dr Shrestha and informed police, his party´s headquarters and other party units later.
In an immediate response to the incident, Superintendent of Police (SP) Dhiru Basnet, chief of District Police Office Chitwan, had said that there could be some financial or political reasons associated with the case.
Police up search for missing doc in Baglung
BAGLUNG: Suspecting that missing Executive Director of BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital, Bharatpur, Dr Bhaktaman Shreshta could have been taken to Baglung overnight, police have launched a massive search for the doctor here on Sunday.
Dr Shrestha, who has been in Maoist captivity for two weeks now, is suspected to have been taken to Baglung via Kaski and Parvat. After Dr Shrestha´s vehicle was recovered in Pokhara, police had identified Baglung, Parvat and Myagdi districts as the possible areas where Dr Shrestha could have been held hostage.
Police sources said search has been intensified in Baglung bazaar and surrounding areas following a tip-off that Maoists are preparing to make public Dr Shrestha.
“We geared up searches in suspicion that Dr Shrestha could have been brought here,” said DSP Bikash Raj Khanal. “We have kept high vigilance at all entry and exit points of the district. But we have not yet found any substantial clue," he said.
However, Dhan Prasad Sapkota, deputy district in-charge of UCPN (Maoist), said it was a rumor spread to defame the Maoists. He claimed that actually his party is searching for the missing doctor.
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