Following a five-day investigation, a three-member probe committee headed by SSP Hemanta Bahadur Paal of Metropolitan Police Commissioner´s Office, submitted its report on Wednesday with a recommendation to take action against all six individuals involved in the incident --the Gupta duo and the four policemen who fell unconscious. [break]
The police were accused of consuming food items provided by a jail inmate who was undergoing treatment at hospital.
According to SSP Paal, “We found that the Gupta duo planned to flee from the hospital after murdering the policemen providing security to the jailed former minister.” Gupta, who is serving a term at Dilli Bazar Jail, was hospitalized on 24th September at Himal Hospital, Gyaneshwor, after developing blood pressure-related complaints.
According to the police report, Shyam Sundar Gupta´s son Bhaskar Gupta, who is a doctor by profession, had ordered chicken from a KFC outlet and chowmein from another place and offered the items to the policemen after mixing in substances like Diazepam, a type of pharmaceutical drug, and Phenergan, a non-allergic prescription drug.
It has also been found that Dr Gupta, who was also found unconscious at the time of the incident, had only feigned being poisoned by the food. “When Gupta senior failed to escape from the hospital as more security personnel were deployed at the same floor on account of another jail inmate who was also undergoing treatment there, he (Bhaskar) had no option left but to feign being poisoned,” according to the report.
The medical report and different enquiries proved that Dr Gupta had not partaken of the food items that were offered to the policemen but had instead taken a separate vegetarian item with his father. But the son has denied the findings and refuted the medical report so far, SSP Paal said.
The report has been submitted to AIG Nawa Raj Dhakal, metropolitan police commissioner, and further action will be taken against the guilty.
Departmental action will be taken against all four policemen involved in the incident. Of the four, two policemen -- Liladhar Nepali and Radhe Shyam Barma--were admitted to the ICU for treatment, and the other two -- Head Constable Padam Nepali and Constable Tej Bahadur Kathayat-- had regained consciousness after treatment.
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