KATHMANDU, FEB 16 - When Nepal Police on Monday officially said that Indian ganglords Bharat Nepali and Bablu Shrivastav are behind the murder of media entrepreneur Jamim Shah, it revealed that one of its officers has been arrested in connection with the plot.

Sub-Inspector Ramesh Chhetri, who is said to be deputed at the US Embassy in Kathmandu as the security liaison, sold crucial security information to the engineer of Shah’s murder plot.

Based on the mobile phone details, investigators found out that the junior police officer was in constant touch with Deepak Shahi aka Babbu, who came to Kathmandu on direction of Shrivastav to sketch out the murder plan and execute it. They claimed that he knew about the plan weeks ago but did not inform the organisation.

Two hitmen hired by Babbu gunned down Shah, the chairman of Spacetime Network Pvt. Ltd and Channel Nepal satellite television, at Lazimpat in Kathamdu on Feb. 7, and fled the scene.

According to sources, investigators found out that four senior officers—two Superintendents of Police (SPs) and two Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSPs)—and a retired DSP were also in touch with the gangsters. However, none has been arrested yet.

The name of former DSP Jagadish Chand, who sources said, was in regular telephone contact with Shrivastav, was removed from the list-to-be-arrested due to an immense pressure from the Nepal Police high-command.

A notorious Shrivastav is currently serving life sentence in a jail in the Indian city of Lucknow from where, police believe, he operates his crime empire spanning from the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to Nepal. He was behind the murder of sitting lawmaker Mirza Dilshad Beg in Kathmandu in 1998.

Chhetri is said to be a distant relative of Babbu, who is an Indian national of Nepali origin. He admitted the security information leakage and not informing the organisation though he was aware of the plot beforehand.

Chhetri was produced at the Kathmandu District Court on Monday, and taken in remand for further investigation. He has been kept in custody at Hanumandhoka with special security arrangements as he showed suicidal tendency after knowing that he was the only person arrested in connection with the murder.

Police said that Babbu rented a house owned by former Deputy Inspector General of Armed Police Force at Shantinagar in Kathmandu. The murder plan was sketched out there, if the investigators are to believe.

Investigators said Babbu’s gang, which involved professional criminals from both India and Nepal, threw parties at their shelters in different places in the Capital Valley for the security officials and "entertained them with liquors and girls."

Posted on: 2010-02-19 04:09

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