Kathmandu, April 13

A person, who was detained a day earlier for his suspected involvement in gold smuggling, was found dead in police custody today.

According to officials, Premlal Chaudhary allegedly hanged himself using his trousers in a toilet of the custody room of Metropolitan Police Circle, Singha Durbar. The youth of Rajapur, Bardiya, used to work as a head loader at Tribhuvan International Airport for Nepal Airlines Corporation.

A probe committee led by joint secretary at the home ministry Ishwar Raj Paudel formed to investigate into the February 2 murder of Sanam Shakya, 36, an alleged carrier of smuggled gold who was murdered in District Police Office, Morang, and the disappearance of 33 kg precious yellow metal, had ordered police to detain Chaudhary. His body has been sent to forensic department of TU Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj, for post-mortem.

A separate probe panel headed by DIG Pushkal Raj Regmi is also investigating the murder and disappearance of the precious yellow metal allegedly smuggled from Dubai in mid-February.

Meanwhile, police today arrested Rajendra Shakya, one of the owners of RK Jewellers, in connection with the case and sent him to District Police Office, Morang.

A police official said 21 persons had been arrested for investigation so far. The Ministry of Home Affairs and the Nepal Police headquarters treated this incident seriously on suspicion that some police personnel of Metropolitan Police Crime Division acted in collusion with gold smugglers to kill Sanam Shakya and hide the gold he was carrying.

Shakya was allegedly electrocuted to death by members of the same smuggling racket in Urlabari of Morang  for ‘involvement in the disappearance of the gold’. But a team deployed from MPCD claimed that ‘three persons were arrested while transporting Shakya’s body to a forest in Pokhariya of Biratnagar ‘for disposal’ on February 3. Those arrested were Narendra Karki, Tekraj Malla and Mohan Kafle.

Chudamani Uprety aka Gore, the mastermind behind the gold smuggling, is absconding and was allegedly assisted by the MPCD cops to escape. Nepal Police have already relieved MPCD in-charge Dibesh Lohani, DSP Prajit KC and sub-inspector Balkrishna Sanjel of their duties for colluding with the racketeers.