Where Nepali Police Boss Encourages and Involves in Crime:
The boss of Nepal Police uses his subordinates to perpetrate crimes. But the state is taking no action against him even after the crime cases have been reported in the media.
Crime of a Policeman: She lost her husband and a son when a police Inspector enjoying the protection of Chief of Nepal Police Shyam Bhakta Thapa killed them. The killer is at large, police can’t find him and they haven’t received compensation. And the boss is still enjoying the Nepali people’s hard money to fill his corrupt stomach.
Today’s Kantipur publishes a letter titled “Quite Inspector General†in its popular column “Letter to the Editor†with a photo of IG of Police Shyam Bhakta Thapa attached. The writer of the letter Deepak Raj Oli of Kathmandu raises very interesting and thought provoking questions and arguments that need to be addressed by the government and the police organization as soon as possible. He was responding to the series of news published in the daily about misdeeds, corruption and killings by a police inspector under the direct protection of IGP. “This case proves that there could be no fair hearing against corruption in the king’s rule. IGP Thapa is quite even after an allegation of this scale. Home Minister is unable to take any action [against him]. The impression on general public is that there is no organization to take actions against anyone. News on papers would have swift impact had there been a political government. Issues of corruption have been shadowed because of king’s direct rule. Such an environment has been created in which corruption is growing rapidly.â€
“A Police Inspector can never make a big house [pic below which we first saw on the front page of Kantipur the other day] in an expensive area of Kathmandu like Bishal Nagar within three or four years of job. News has come that he has made many other houses like that. He has been officially charged of kidnapping people, brining them into the Police Headquarters and looting them. The quietness of Nepal Police has become a stark reality in such a regime even after the fact that Inspector did all those dirty things with the knowledge of IGP Thapa has been widely publicized.â€
“How and which what morality the lower rung police officers work in a police force whose chief is like IGP Thapa? Honest police officers must have bowed their head in shame. My sympathy goes to those policemen who have to fight the guns and bombs of Maoists with poor training and inefficient arms.â€
Here is background of the case:
A group led by Police Inspector Suresh Dhungana kidnapped two Nepalese of Tibetan origin on Magh 16 (Martyrs Day which is also the public holiday in Nepal), brought them in the Police Headquarters and looted Rs. 1.1 million from them. Inspector Dhungana enjoys a close relationship with the IGP. He is the son of IGP’s priest. IGP Thapa recruited Dhungana in Police Organization in 2055 BS when the former was DIG in Biratnagar. Dhungana works at the Personal Secretariat of IGP Thapa in Police Headquarters.
Kathmandu Police arrested two people including record holding Everest climber Pemba Dorjee Sherpa on the basis of victim’s complain. [Kantipur’s Khim Ghale first reported about this news on Feb 16 (Falgun 4).] They are being investigated by the police. Kathmandu Police was looking for Inspector Dhungana but couldn’t arrest him because of the protection he enjoyed from IGP Thapa. Investigating officers at the Kathmandu Police suspect Assistant Sub Inspector Kiran Joshi of the IGP’s Secretariat is also involved in the plot.
According to reports filed by journalist Kedar Ojha in Kantipur daily, sources say that Dhungana didn’t receive ancestral properties. But he bought a big house in Bishalnagar worth Rs. 9.3 million and was living there before this case came into news. He allegedly kidnapped a businessman in New Road last year and received a car as ransom.
Dhungana’s group used to roam around the country allegedly extorting money from businessmen. Two months ago a TATA mobile van driven by Dhungana killed two people (father and son) of Sapthari on Mahendra Highway. Sapthari District Police arrested and took him to Eastern Regional Police Office, Biratnagar. Citing his close relationship with IGP Thapa, Inspector Dhungana fired two rounds of bullets in the office premise and walked away. The family of the killed hasn’t got compensation as yet.
Senior police officers suspect that IGP Thapa is using Inspector Dhungana for illegal extortion of money from various businessmen. Kantipur’s Ojha quotes senior officials as saying that as IGP Thapa and Inspector Dhungana enjoy close personal and financial relationships, Thapa is always preventing investigators from taking action against Dhungana. It is believed that Inspector Dhungana has fled Nepal with IGP Thapa paving him save exit.
Inspector Suresh Dhungana, who, according to sources, didn’t receive ancestral property, bought a big house in Bishalnagar worth Rs. 9.3 million and was living there before this case came into news. Pic by Bikash Karki
It is widely believed that many corrupt folks occupy high positions in Nepal Police. They use the state machinery to do illegal things just as the IGP Thapa did in the cover the Inspector Dhungaha. There is no doubt that Inspector Dhungana is just a pawn of IGP Thapa. But the country is shocked, as letter writer Deepak Raj Oli suggests, and Nepal has become a land of lawlessness.
