Conspiracy hatched to frame me: SSP Khatri
Biratnagar, June 1
Suspended Senior Superintendent of Nepal Police Shyam Bahadur Khatri, one of the main accused in the 33 kg gold smuggling case, told the court today that some inside the police force had conspired to frame him.
Khatri, who turned himself in for investigation at Morang District Court yesterday, said someone from the police department might have hatched a conspiracy to frame him as he was on the top of the list for the promotion as a DIG.
Recording his statement at the court, Khatri said he came to know Chudamani Upreti ‘Gore’ two years ago while he was having a brawl with security forces. “I had chided Gore then, so he must have accused me for revenge,” Khatri stated.
Sub-inspector Balkrishna Sanjel arrested in the 33 kg gold smuggling case had told the court that SSP Khatri referred to Gore as ‘a good man’. When court staffers read out the statement given by Sanjel, Khatri replied, “Upreti used to notify me about the crime. So, I may have called him good. But I do not recall things that happened two years ago”.
SSP Khatri, who denied his involvement in the gold smuggling, said that former Deputy Inspector General Govind Niraula had introduced Upreti as his friend’s son to him.
Earlier, Upreti had said that Khatri took Rs 50,000 for helping to smuggle per kg of gold and it was Khatri who helped smuggle all the gold that came Fly Dubai.
SSP Khatri was posted at the airport for 17 months between 2015 and 2017. During this period, Khatri helped smuggle 400kg gold, according to Upreti. Khatri said that he heard that Upreti had warned of transferring him from the airport.
While recording their statements, Khatri’s driver Bishnu Bahadur Khadka and porter Mohan Kafle had said that SSP Khatri helped smuggle gold.
Meanwhile, Chudamani Upreti and Khatri have been kept at Morang District Prison. Khatri had requested that he be sent to Jhumka prison.
However, a bench of district court Judge Narayan Prasad Sharma had sent Khatri to the district prison. Jailer Shankar Prasad Paudel said Upreti and Khatri had not met despite being in the same jail.
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