Like a nightmare. The Nepalese royal massacre occurred on Friday, June 1, 2001, at a house in the grounds of the Narayanhity Royal Palace, then the residence of the Nepalese monarchy. The dead included King Birendra of Nepal and Queen Aiswarya, Dipendra's father and mother. Prince Dipendra became de jure King of Nepal upon his father's death and died whilst in a coma three days after the act; however there are claims that Dipendra was already dead before being declared as the King. Gyanendra then became king. According to reports, Dipendra had been drinking heavily and had "misbehaved" with a guest, which resulted in his father, King Birendra, telling his son to leave the party. The drunken Dipendra was taken to his room by his brother Prince Nirajan and cousin Prince Paras. One hour later, Dipendra returned to the party armed with an H&K; MP5 and an M16 and fired a single shot into the ceiling before turning the gun on his father, King Birendra. Seconds later, Dipendra shot one of his aunts. He then shot his uncle Dhirendra in the chest at point-blank range when he tried to stop Dipendra. During the shooting, Prince Paras suffered slight injuries and managed to save at least three royals, including two children, by pulling a sofa over them. During the attack, Dipendra darted in and out of the room firing shots each time. His mother, Queen Aishwarya, who came into the room when the first shots were fired, left quickly, looking for help. Dipendra's mother Aishwarya and his brother Nirajan confronted him in the garden of the palace, where they were both shot dead. Dipendra then proceeded to a small bridge over a stream running through the palace, where he shot himself. Subsequently, the chairman of Nepal Maoists Party in a public gathering also stated that the massacre was planned by India. All most all people in Nepal suspected that Gyanendra was responsible for the royal palace massacre in liaison with Research & Analysis Wing of India (R&AW;) and CIA of USA on June 1, 2001, and that he had blamed Dipendra so that he could assume the throne himself.[8] Gyanendra was as unpopular in the country as his son Paras. He had been third in line to the throne before the massacre. He was out of town (in Pokhara) during the massacre and was the closest surviving relative of the king. Gyanendra's wife and son were in the room at the royal palace during the massacre. After the King quit the Palace, the government converted it into a museum.First, the museum was inaugurated by the then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala. After Pushpakamal Dahal Prachanda" became the first elected prime minister, he again inaugurated the Narayanhitty museum. During that time, he had announced that the Royal Palace bloodbath will be re-investigated. Later, Madhab Nepal became the Prime Minister and he also repeated the same commitment. While making such announcements, questions have been created on whether they will be able to reach to a conclusive end to know about the fact! To recall, Madhab Nepal, as a leader of the then Opposition Party, in July 2001, even after his consent, had later denied to join the high-level probe commission headed by the then speaker Taranath Ranabhat. But the same Madhab Nepal is now asking for a reinvestigation of the 2001 Royal Palace massacre. But before forming such a probe commission by the government, Tul Prasad Sherchan has appeared, and he has claimed that under his leadership, a plot was designed for carrying out the Palace massacre on 1 July 2001. How did he suddenly appear in front of the press and why did he choose the venue, Reporter's Club, it is very much interesting. Sherchan claimed himself as the chief of the Royal Intelligence Bureau, which was merged into the National Intelligence Department decades ago during King Mahendra's tenure and later the department was named as the National Investigation Bureau.

• published: 29 Aug 2011
• views: 304122