KATHMANDU, March 10: The Police Headquarters had transferred five Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSPs) of Nepal Police on March 2.
Among them, Nishant Srivastava, who was working in Lamjung, was transferred to the Nepal Police Headquarters Supervision and Monitoring Division in Naxal. DSP Resham Bohara replaced him in his place in Lamjung. Srivastava is currently under investigation. The Police Headquarter has not disclosed the reason for his sudden transfer. However, to investigate him, the Police Headquarter has quietly formed a committee.
On the afternoon of February 23, a team of Indian police raided a restaurant in Nagarjuna, the capital. After the high-level Nepal Police received information about the raid, all the checkpoints in Kathmandu were closed. Suddenly, on Saturday afternoon, checks on passengers leaving Kathmandu began. All police units in Kathmandu were mobilized. During this process, a team of police officers from Punjab, India, was arrested. The seven-member team, led by Indian police officer Bikramjit Singh, was the same group that had conducted the raid at the restaurant.
After the Indian police team conducted the raid without informing the official Nepal Police mechanism, the incident was informed to the Special Bureau. At the request of the Indian police, the Special Bureau was also searching for those individuals, and the team from India attempted to take them without coordination.
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According to a senior police source, Surendrajit Singh, Birendrajit Singh, Pushpendra Singh, Gagandip Singh, Rabindra Pratap Singh and Manish Singh, along with Indian policeman Bikramjit, had come to Kathmandu and tried to take their citizens with them. However, Nepal police took them into custody on Saturday evening and kept them in custody for a day. During interrogation in custody, it was revealed that Lamjung DSP Nishant Srivastava had helped them. “They contacted the Lamjung DSP. It was seen that the DSP helped them,” said a police officer.
According to him, the investigation against DSP Srivastava began after he assisted the Punjab Police without informing anyone. “They were from Punjab. It would have been better if there had been coordination with the Nepal Police during the raid, but it appears that was not the case,” said a police official.
The Nepal Police has not wanted to disclose the investigation into the DSP. The Nepal Police has also not officially said anything about the arrival of the Indian police. The matter under investigation against the DSP is said to be an internal matter of the Nepal Police. “This is an internal matter of the police, not a matter that needs to be publicized,” said Nepal Police spokesperson DIG Dinesh Acharya. DSP Srivastava is an officer with a good track record within the Nepal Police. The reason why he was willing to assist the Indian police without coordination from the higher authorities remains mysterious.
The arrested Indian policemen were handed over to the Indian Embassy the next day, on February 24. The embassy has also reportedly asked them for an explanation questioning why a search was conducted without their coordination.
“They did not have any weapons with them,” said a senior Nepal Police official, “They were handed over after informing the Indian Embassy.”
The Indian police had come to Nepal on the grounds that an absconding Indian murderer who killed people in Punjab was hiding in Nepal. The Indian police had earlier requested the Nepal police to arrest and send the person accused of murder in Punjab. At that time, the Special Bureau was searching for the person.
“It was seen that the Lamjung DSP assisted the Punjab Police, who came to Kathmandu, to arrest the person that the Special Bureau and other agencies were looking for,” the source said.
Although there is occasional coordination between the Nepal Police and the Indian Police to deal with criminals, raids and intimidation in each other's countries are quite rare. The Nepal Police team was put on high alert after the Indian police, instead of returning or informing the Nepal Police after not finding the person they were looking for, conducted the search on their own.
