• Police are yet to track down the main accused

Biratnagar, April 24

The district court of Morang today extended by eight days the custody of those held in connection with the smuggling of 33kg of gold.

All 23 persons, including former deputy inspector general of police Govind Niraula, were presented at the court today for extension of their custody. Niraula was held from Kathmandu yesterday by a probe team set up by the Home Ministry in order to investigate high-profile gold smuggling and the related death of its carrier Sanam Shakya. Police in Morang had also produced the former DIG at the court yesterday and got permission to keep him two days in custody. Earlier, two days’ remand was sought so that all the 23 could be produced at the court today.

Police, however, are yet to track down the main accused Chudamani Upreti, alias Gore, behind the smuggling, and some of his relatives who were also reckoned to have been involved in the smuggling racket.

Meanwhile, Morang police are all set to issue a notice at INTERPOL to hunt for Gore. “As he’s hiding outside the country, issuing a notice at INTERPOL is the only option to nab him,” said Morang Police Chief SP Arun Kumar BC. After the smuggled gold had mysteriously gone missing, the smugglers had held and tortured its carrier Shakya to death in an attempt to prise information out of him.