Police HQ steps up parallel probe<br/>Accused cops interrogated at HQ

KATHMANDU, Nov 18: Nepal Police has heightened its parallel investigation into the dubious handling of the 300,000 US dollars looting case by Metropolitan Police Commissioner´s Office (MPCO). [break]

• Police HQ takes up $300,000 case

Chief of Crime Investigation Bureau Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Rajendra Singh Bhandari visited Metropolitan Crime Division Office (MCDO) on Tuesday to learn about the investigation into two cops who allegedly looted the amount from a businessman in Dallu on October 17. A group of officials at MCDO has been interrogating them at daytime as directed by MPCO chief Additional Inspector General (AIG) Kalyan Kumar Timalsina. The cops have not yet been put into legal custody. Likewise, neither any case has been registered nor the owner of the amount who is said to have illegally held it dragged into the investigation.



According to sources, the two accused cops -- Ramhari Subedi and Makar Shrestha -- were also taken to Nepal Police headquarters on Tuesday after DIG Bhandari intervened into the investigation. After interrogation at the headquarters, they were taken to an undisclosed place.



The parallel investigation, taken up earlier by a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), was given a new profile just one day after Inspector General Ramesh Chand Thakuri lifted the lid on the silence and doubt surrounding the case through myrepublica.com saying that he would check the legitimacy of the MPCO´s maneuver.



The case has raised serious questions about why MPCO breached its jurisdiction to detain the accused in a criminal case and also why it did not arrest the owner of the money. MPCO has never disclosed anything about the case ever since it arrested two cops and a civilian, the driver of the owner three weeks ago. Fresh information provided by reliable sources is that the driver, who is also said to be involved in the plot, is not under detention these days. This has only deepened suspicion sparked by a tip-off to myrepublica.com that MPCO investigators were recently directed not to put pressure on the accused cops.



Similarly, apart from Bhandari-led probe, Chand´s Secretariat on Tuesday called some officials who are said to be aware of the dubious investigation and asked for help in parallel investigation, sources said.

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