Pistol, bullets connected to Mhepi shootout seized from a car

Kathmandu, October 23

Police seized a revolver from Tankeshwar of Kathmandu Metropolitan City-13 and two bullets from under the seat of a car ‘Ba 5 Cha 9175’ yesterday.

The car was hidden at Shree Krishna Auto Workshop in Nayabazar of Kathmandu Metropolitan City-16.

Police said a pistol and bullets had been seized after the statement given by Asun Gurung, a resident of Nagarjun Municipality, who was arrested yesterday in a case wherein a youth was shot at in Mhepi.

Investigation into this case is under way, said police. Kalyan Gurung was injured after an unidentified group shot at him in Mhepi in the Capital in the wee hours of the morning yesterday.

Gurung, a resident of Laprak in Gorkha district was injured when the group opened fired at him near Mhepi temple at 4:00am.

According to Metropolitan Police Range, four persons, including the alleged shooter, were nabbed within a few hours of the incident. Three other suspects arrested from different places of Kathmandu were Sabina Chhetri, 23, of Chitwan; Nawaraj Lamichhane, 35, and Surendra Shahi, 31. Asun was the shooter, police said.

Police said the gang had engaged in a brawl with Kalyan in Thamel-based CNI Disco ‘over a woman’. As he stepped out of the restaurant, the gang followed him and opened fire. It is said that Asun and Sabina were in the disco till 2:00am.

The illicit proliferation and misuse of small arms and light weapons is posing a serious threat to security in Kathmandu Valley. Officials fear smuggling and easy availability of such firearms is likely to give rise to criminal activities if timely action is not taken.

According to police, the rise in smuggling of small arms into the Valley has resulted in a surge in crimes such as murder‚ extortion, abduction and robbery.

Small arms are mainly smuggled into Nepal through the southern border. Officials said a pistol fetches arms smugglers up to Rs 100‚000, depending on the need of the prospective clients‚ who are mostly extortionists or members of organised criminal gangs.