Probe the police

We find it ridiculous that the government hasn´t yet constituted an independent committee or commission to probe into the bizarre incident of attempted murder inside the Central Jail by a contract killer. Instead, the government seems to have settled for the two probe committees formed by the police. We don´t have any objection to the police probes-- any department must act in that way to find out what went wrong and how such unfortunate incidents can be prevented in future. The value of the probes is, however, limited to departmental fact-finding.



The attempted murder within a high-security situation of someone like Yunus Ansari, who is under judicial custody for possessing a huge amount of counterfeit Indian currency and heroin, demands a far more serious investigation, and from outside the police apparatus. This is a case in which the police and the security system should themselves be at the centre of the probe.



Jasjeet Singh, the contract killer, managed to enter Central Jail with a loaded revolver, either with the help of police or by hoodwinking them. Either way, the police overseeing jail security are culpable and liable for punishment. The probe must, therefore, focus as much on the whole system at Central Jail as on individuals who might have helped Singh. For reasons of impartiality as well as effectiveness it is crucially important that an independent probe from outside the police department is constituted at the earliest. Such a probe committee will not just trace the guilty and explain how security at the jail was breached but also recommend revamping of the jail and its security arrangement so that no such incident recurs to embarrass the state yet again.



Let´s all be clear that this is no ordinary incident. It possibly involves two international criminal gangs. Police have long suspected Ansari to be a member of an international criminal network involved in circulating counterfeit currency and drug trafficking. And let´s also be absolutely clear that he is not a media baron as some reports have erroneously portrait him-- he has used media only as a cover for his illegal activities. It´s quite likely that a rival gang hired Singh to finish off Ansari.



The fact that two rival criminal groups may be operational in Nepal and have the capacity to use or bypass the security system raises a dreadful prospect. It will further undermine the Nepali state in the eyes of the international community, and particularly of our two immediate neighbors, both of which have sensitive security concerns in Nepal. At stake here is not just the competence of our security system but the credibility of the state itself. Let´s treat this incident with all the seriousness it deserves.

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