Monk shot at, looted in tourist hub

KATHMANDU, Nov 3: A monk was seriously injured in a broad daylight shoot-out in Kathmandu´s tourism hub on Wednesday afternoon by a group of looters. The looters -- who police claims have been identified and would be nabbed soon-- also snatched a bag of cash worth Rs 2,50,000 from the monk.



The incident occured at around noon in a crowdy Thamel street just a stone´s throw away from the Sanchayakosh Chowk. [break]



Nima Lama, 42 -- the monk -- who received two bullets to his abdomen, is currently being recuperating from the bullet injuries.



Of the four shots fired by the gang, two hit him on stomach, one strayed hitting the ground and the last one went blank, according to Inspector Rugam Kunwar, chief of Metropolitan Police Sector Sorakhutte.



The monk was rushed to the nearby Manamohan Memorial Hospital. Later, he was referred to Bir Hospital for an operation of the wounded part. As of late Wednesday evening, his condition is said to be stable.



Primary investigation shows that the gang had followed him from Chettrapati where he is said to have exchanged 900 euros, said Kunwar. The gang assaulted him while he was looking for a money changer to change 600 Swiss Francs. The monk also possessed another bundle of Rs 1 00, 000.



Witnesses said the looters made away with the bag of money after cordoning off the monk on the road jampacked with vehicles and pedestrians.



"As the monk resisted and refused to yield his bag, they dragged him some 10 meters away on the road and fired shots at him before fleeing the scene with the bag," said a police official involved in the investigation.



According to him, the looters had parked their motorcycles at Bhagabatisthan, some 150 meters north of Sanchayakoshchwok, apparently to flee the scene after looting the monk.



Lama, in his holy saffron-colored robes, had driven from Sundarijal to Thamel in a car owned by the monastery. Officials investigating the incident said he must have been followed by the looters as soon as he left the Sanchayakosh building.



This is the second incident of shoot-out and looting in a year targeting the money changers and their clients at Thamel.



Earlier in December, a money exchange entrepreneur was robbed of Rs 1.4 million at gunpoint, that too in his own office at Jyathachwok. The entrepreneur, however, survived a bullet wound in his stomach. The accused of the incident, one Tension Lama, was arrested a few months ago. He is now in judicial custody.

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