KATHMANDU: The Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police has nabbed Samirman Singh Basnet, who allegedly masterminded the murder of president of the Federation of Contractors’ Association of Nepal Sharad Kumar Gauchan.

DIG Pushkar Karki, CIB director, said Basnet, 34, who had orchestrated the murder from India and got Gauchan killed by his henchmen, was arrested from Narayangadh of Chitwan yesterday when he entered Nepal from India. Gauchan, 60, was gunned down by armed motorcyclists on Prayag Marg, Kathmandu, on October 9.

Basnet, a Bafal-based gangster and a close aide to Kumar Shrestha, aka Ghainte, killed in police action in 2015, masterminded the murder after ‘the victim refused to pay extortion money’.

Fresh investigation report suggests that Gauchan had allegedly received Rs 25 million from Ghainte, the proprietor of Gajurmukhi Construction Company, offering him shares of Danfe Construction Company owned by the FCAN president.

“After Ghainte was killed in police action, Basent claimed that Rs 10 million out of the amount given to Gauchan by Ghainte was his and demanded that the cash be refunded to him or he be given shares equivalent to the amount in question,” DIG Karki said, quoting the statement of Basnet.

Basnet had also demanded that Gauchan give the gangster two per cent commission on a contract won by the FCAN president for the construction of the proposed Birgunj-Biratnagar postal highway. “The two per cent amounts to around Rs 170 million,” DIG Karki revealed. Basnet’s gang is notorious for extorting from contractors and businesspersons.

CIB claimed that Basnet had conceded masterminding the murder of Gauchan.

He was also the prime suspect in the murder of CPN-UML-aligned Youth Federation Nepal’s Rupandehi president Durga Tiwari on December 19, 2016, in Khairahani of the district, as well as the attempted murder of Dawa Lama on April 11 in Gaugharighat, Kathmandu.

(UPDATED)

KATHMANDU: Police said they paraded the alleged mastermind of the murder of President of Federation of Contractors’ Association of Nepal Sharad Kumar Gauchan, today.

Acting on a tip-off, a team deployed from the Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police arrested Samir Man Singh Basnet (32) from Narayangadh in Chitwan district and made public amid a press meet in the Capital today.

Basnet was also involved in a couple of criminal cases including the murder of CPN-UML leader Durga Tiwari in Rupandehi and Dawa Lama case earlier.

Meanwhile, police also confiscated two bullets of USP Pistol that was hidden in a flower pot in his home.

Police have also arrested seven others in connection with the case.

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