- Jamim killers no longer in Nepal, says probe
- Jamim Shah: End of a life mired in controversies
- Chhota Rajan Group claims Shah´s murder
- Media baron shot dead in broad daylight
Three persons said to have physical features similar to those of persons considered gang members had left their quarters in Gongabu Friday morning. Police had raided the house on Friday evening a couple of hours after Prakash Chhetri, a police sub-inspector arrested for allegedly being a local accomplice, gave his statement admitting his role. [break]
"Four persons accompanied by a girl left their rooms only this morning," Sabita Shrestha, the house owner, told police when they arrived for interrogations.
Chhetri is said to have said in his statement that he had been working as a Nepal Police liaison at the US embassy in Kathmandu for one and half years. His actual posting seems to have been at the Zonal Police Office, Seti.
Chhetri, who joined the Nepal Police as an assistant inspector 12 years ago, is a nephew of a superintendent of police.
Chhetri admitted in his statement that he was aware of the plot to kill Shah and was immediately informed about the shooting, but did not bother to pass the information on to Nepal Police.
"We later came to understand that he kept mum probably until he was sure the remaining members of the gang had left the capital," said an investigative officer. He was tracked down and arrested on the basis of call details on mobile phones possessed by Deepak Shahi, alias Babbu, the mastermind behind the murder.
Chhetri has claimed that Babbu is a relative, and had approached him in Kathmandu three weeks ago. Babbu is also known to have contacted other police officers in person or over the phone while hatching the plot, which, according to police, cost millions.
Nepal Police has not made public anything about Babbu´s inside maneuvers, which, investigative officials say, included throwing a series of parties in the capital to develop his cover. Many of those who seem to have come into contact with Babbu are said to have also left the capital.
Meanwhile, Nepal Police claimed at a press meet on Monday that Shah´s murder was carried out by Indian underworld kingpins Babloo Srivastav and Bharat Nepali, who are associated with the Chota Rajan group.
Police also ascertained from India that ´Babbu´ as the mastermind in the murder carried out with the help of five Indian aides including two sharpshooters. It was also ascertained that a police sub-inspector, Prakash Chhetri, was a local accomplice, among others.
The report made public by Metropolitan Police Commissioner AIG Madan Khadka a week after the incident, however, failed to explain the motive behind the murder of the 47-year-old-media entrepreneur and only attributed to ´intelligence´ its conclusions linking the incident with Indian underworld figures.
Srivastav has been serving a life term in Lucknow, India, and Nepali is said to have been residing in Bangkok and Singapore and running criminal activities as a key player of the Chota Rajan gang.
Police have obtained three Indian names--Mohammed Waqar Sayed, Guddu Singh also known as Rabin, and Dadu-- and pointed out two other unidentified individuals as Babbu´s aides.
They had first rented the ground floor of a house in Baneshwar belonging to former DIG of the Armed Police Force Gyanendra Raj Rai. Some two weeks before the incident, they shifted to Gongabu.
Besides Sub-Inspector Chhetri, three others--Shree Krishna Paudel of Nuwakot and Raju Lama and Kishor Khadka-- have been identified by police as accomplices in the murder but have not yet been arrested. Paudel had allegedly helped the Indian gang by keeping the weapon, sheltering Babbu, discarding the motorcycle and transporting the criminals out of the Valley.
Police have also been interrogating Roshan Kumar Pandey, who runs Everest Communication Center in Baneshwar. According to Police, Pandey had provided two SIM cards which were later found to have been used by Babbu.
Pandey, who is described by police as someone who had contacts with the accused without being aware of the murder of plan, had also sent Rs 8,000 to the wife of Rabin in Varanasi, India through his account. Some police officers even guess that the name ´Rabin´ could have been invented by Babbu while living in Baneshwar.
Who is Babbu?
Babbu is the nickname of Deepak Shahi, a resident of Badeni, a bordering Indian town across from Krishnanagar in Kapilvastu District. He is a family man with a wife and two children. He is a familiar figure in Krishnanagar also.
He has no specific occupation but takes up petty contracts for supply of concrete and sand. He was known by friends as never having a constant mobile number. Belonging to the Thakuri clan, he used to befriend any police officer of the same caste working in Kapilvastu.
According to police sources, he had good relations with cops in India and Nepal despite having a suspicious character.
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