Myrepublica.com can disclose this on the basis of phone call details recorded by the respective telecom service providers, and it has also obtained from sources the related documents. [break]
Nepal Police has neither arrested the police officers nor brought them under investigation nor informed the public though their connection to the indicent was established through call details before the first report about the murder was made public on February 14.
Call details show that DSPs Arjun Chand, Ganesh Chand and Surendra Bahadur Singh, and former DSP Jagadish Chand had contacted Babbu, who was said to have remained in the capital for over one and a half months entertaining several police officers and businessmen while he was planning Shah´s murder.
The only police officer who was arrested and subsequently prosecuted for allegedly working as an accomplice to Babbu is Sub-Inspector Prakash Chhetri. Nepal Police´s first report on the murder came three days after they arrested Chhetri on the ground of his connection established through call details.
The police had showcased Chhetri´s apprehension as ground-breaking proof. They also said six Indian nationals and six Nepalis were involved in the murder but did not at all mention the senior police officers.
As no senior figures were brought into the investigation over the month after the incident took place, dissatisfaction has been rife in the Nepal Police rank and file.
Sources said the police leadership finally on Wednesday instructed the investigators to nab Jagadish Chand, whose connection with the incident is considered most dubious. But Chand has gone out of contact following this development.
Chand has been working at a hospital in the capital after he retired from the Nepal Police. Among the incumbent police officers who had contacted Babbu, Arjun Chand is now posted in Dadeldhura, Ganesh Chand is at the office of Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) and Surendra Bahadur Singh at the Metropolitan Police Incident Assistance Task Force.
According to call details, Babbu´s UTL number 9721535073 seems to have been contacted by NTC no. 9849256552 held by Arjun, 9841284360 held by Ganesh, 9851034691 held by Surendra and 9841798961 held by Jagadish. Likewise Sub-Inspector Chhetri had used two numbers-- 9803931417 and 9851024978--to ring up Babbu.
Ex-DSP Chand seems to have been in regular contact with Babbu, to go by the call details. He had been called by or had himself called Babbu more than three dozen times over the last 10 days before the Jamim murder.
Jagadish, who seems to have contacted Babbu from the third week of January, had called the latter twice on the very day Jamim was shot dead in broad daylight in Lazimpat--more precisely, right after the shooting. According to the police report, Jamim was shot dead at 2:20 p.m. Jagadish called Babbu at 3:42 p.m. and again at 4:08 p.m.
Jagadish also used a land-line phone at Norvick Hospital where he works. A few days before the incident, both had met at a restaurant in Thapathali from where Babbu was said to have gotten Jagadish to talk to Babloo Srivastav, who is in jail in India, over his UTL phone.
Meanwhile, DSP Arjun Chand seems to have contacted Babbu on the evening of February 7, a few hours after the incident. Phone conversations between the two appear to have taken place more than five times during Babbu´s stay in the capital.
DSP Ganesh Chand seems to have called Babbu three times over a week before the incident. Similarly, DSP Singh called Babbu twice on February 8, the day after the incident.
According to a call analysis conducted by senior investigators, Bablu called 73 different local numbers during his stay in the capital besides being in frequent contact with an Indian number, 919956099682, which is said to have been held by Babloo Srivastav at Bareli jail in Lucknow.
Between 1:56 p.m. and 16:35 p.m.on February 7, there were 10 calls between Babbu and Babloo. The first two calls to Babbu´s number after the shooting came at 1.26 p.m. from one of the gunmen using mobile number 9721535078 and the third call was made by Babloo from India at 1.30 p.m.
Babbu made a total of 784 calls between January 16 and February 7. On February 7, when Jamim was murdered, Babbu made 55 calls.
DIG Rajendra Singh Bhandari, who headed the primary investigations and now represents Nepal Police in a high-level legal probe committee formed by the government, said that contacts made by the incumbent and former senior officers had been taken notice of during the investigations. But he declined to elaborate.
Meanwhile, SSP Rana Bahadur Chand, chief of Metropolitan Police Crime Division, said that former DSP Jagadish Chand was being hunted down to bring him into the investigations. He cited some technical problems including difficulty in obtaining call details for being late in bringing to light the connection of police officers to the suspects in the crime.
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