Kathmandu, July 17:

Former Minister in the royal cabinet Prakash Koirala today told the High-Level Investigation Commission that the cabinet should take the responsibility of the killings and suppression during the April Jana Andolan.

“The royal cabinet should take the responsibility,” Koirala told reporters after he was interrogated by the commission led by former Supreme Court Judge Krishna Jung Rayamajhi.

Koirala, however, was not clear on whether the King was responsible for the suppression.

He said the King is still a constitutional monarch as the 1990 Constitution is still in force.

“I always supported BP Koirala’s reconciliation policy in the country as I am a nationalist and a democrat,” Koirala claimed.

The commission also interrogated the chairman of the dissolved Rajparishad, Parshu Narayan Chaudhary, former minister Keshar Bahadur Bista and Additional Inspector General of Police Dillip Kumar Shrestha.

“How can I bear the moral responsibility when I was the minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives,” Bista said. “I tried my best to persuade the King to make a consensus with the political parties, but in vain,” he added. He said he told the commission that he was not ready to bear the responsibility as he had no hand in suppressing the movement.

Chaudhary also refused to take the responsibility for the killings and the suppression. “I never gave the King wrong advices,” he said. He said he would not accept the the commission’s verdict if it held him responsible as he did not do anything.

Shrestha also denied he had a hand in suppressing the movement. “I am not responsible for all that happened during the people’s movement. Those who were in the policy-making level in the former government should take the responsibility,” he said. The commission will tomorrow interrogate the acting Chief of the Armed Police Force, Basudev Oli, for his alleged role in suppressing the April movement.