Karki, who was attending a relative's wedding on the night of the incident, had reached home with his wife and daughter before the feast was over. Who encouraged Karki, who usually stays until the end at weddings/feasts, to go home early that day? The police had taken that matter as a 'clue'.
What you should know
Midnight of 21 Mangsir 2063. Nepal Police Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Kuber Bikram Karki was living with his wife Ranju Bhattarai Karki and 5-year-old daughter in his newly built one-story house near Kandaghari, former Gothatar VDC-8. Karki was preparing for the United Nations Police (UNPOL) under the United Nations peacekeeping mission. Karki, who had been camping near Paknajol for a long time, had only recently moved into a house in Gothatar.
Karki, who joined the service as an Assistant Inspector (ASI) in Bhadra 2051, was promoted to SI 7 years later. He worked in various units for about 7 years after joining the service. When he passed out after completing his police training, the then CPN-Maoist had already started an armed conflict in the country. At that time, police barracks and offices were targeted by the Maoists.
From 2052 to 2062/63, more than 1,500 police officers alone were killed in the Maoist conflict. Karki had seen not only police officers he knew in Maoist attacks, but also hundreds of barracks and offices burned down. During that time, he worked in various places outside Kathmandu and the valley. During that time, he himself escaped unpleasant incidents. In 2058, he was promoted to SI.
Within a few months of his promotion, the Police Headquarters assigned him as the Personal Security Officer (PSO) of former Home Minister and Congress leader Khum Bahadur Khadka. At that time, Khadka was very aggressive towards the Maoists and opposed armed and violent activities. For this reason, the government had taken precautions in Khadka's security. Karki had to follow Khadka's daily routine. All day for Khadka's security, at night with his family. Khadka loved the police deployed for his security, and would ask about the well-being of his family. Whether Khadka was on duty or away, his reach and influence was the same. Sometimes he would call family members to his house.
After being deployed for Khadka's security, Karki's personal relationship expanded due to constant association and meetings with those who came and went to political meetings. Using Karki as a medium, some high-ranking police officers of the time would go to meet Khadka. In a way, Karki had also become the contact person for his own senior officers to meet Khadka. During this time, Karki's relationship with leaders and activists who came to meet him from Kathmandu to Dang, his home district, had become close and thick. He became Khadka's bodyguard for about 5 years.
After the 2062/63 movement, the peace process began in the country. The Maoists entered peaceful politics. Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala became the Prime Minister and Congress' Krishna Prasad Sitaula became the Home Minister. The Maoists also joined the Koirala-led government. After the conflict ended, the Maoists were in the government under the leadership of Krishna Bahadur Mahara. By this time, it had been 12 years since Sye Karki had joined the police service. By this time, he was posted as Khadka's bodyguard. At that time, preparations were being made for the SAT exam to compete in the 'UNPOL' under the peace mission for the Nepal Police. Sye Karki was one of those who participated in it.
He had to work as the security guard of former Home Minister Karki all day, and with his family at night. On the afternoon of 21 Mangsir 2063, Karki had gone to attend a relative's wedding party with his wife and 5-year-old daughter. He returned home in the evening. After preparing for the SAT exam for some time, he went to bed. However, that night became the last moment of his life for Karki. At 1 am, Karki was dragged out of his bed while he was sleeping and brought out of the room and attacked with sharp weapons on his head and various parts of his body. According to the initial investigation and incident report at the time, Karki resisted the unknown group for a while, but he was not hurt.
After he collapsed in a passage, bleeding profusely, the unknown group fled. Shortly after, Karki was taken to Kathmandu Medical College in Sinamangal for treatment, doctors declared him dead. This incident not only claimed the life of a security guard, but also shattered the family's trust. Relatives lost their loved ones. The police lost their members. But who was involved in that heartbreaking incident 20 years ago? Why couldn't the culprits be arrested? The investigating police agency is still confused. The then police spokesperson DIG Kiran Gautam had said that the organization was confused about the person involved in the incident. The police are still confused as the culprits of the incident have not been identified yet.
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Karki of Ghyang VDC-1 in Dolakha was among the 350 who passed the first batch out of 432 who registered for the Assistant Inspector examination in Bhadra 2051. The team that passed the first batch is known as Batch 105 in the police. Out of the 432 who passed in the first batch, 130 were included in the list to receive training from the Police Training Academy, Maharajgunj.
107 went to Butwal, 82 people from the alternative list went to Butwal and Biratnagar Training Center. The alternative batch was known as Batch 107. Some of those who entered the service with Karki later entered the service as Police Inspectors and rose to SSP. They retired in Bhadra last year after completing 30 years of service.
If he had remained in the service, Karki would probably have also gone on compulsory retirement last year. But unfortunately, Karki was killed in a brutal incident while he was sleeping at his residence. The place where the incident took place was under the then Metropolitan Police Circle, New Baneshwor. The police reached the spot shortly after the murder. DSP Divas Udas was in Baneshwor Circle. Udas, known as a capable officer in crime investigation, had reached the spot himself at night.
A brief note prepared by DSP Udas' team about the incident states, 'On the night of Mangsir 21, 2063, at around 1 am, 35-year-old Police Sub-Inspector Karki was taken out of his house while he was sleeping and attacked him with a sharp weapon (khukuri) on his head, neck, back and legs, injuring him and fleeing. He died on the way to Kathmandu Medical College for treatment.'
Udas, who resigned from the police after becoming SP, is currently abroad. In an interview with Kantipur, Udas describes the incident 20 years ago as cruel and inhumane. ‘As far as I remember, our initial investigation revealed that two unknown men entered the room in the middle of the night, took him out of his sleeping room, brutally and inhumanly attacked him on the head, chest and other parts of his body with homemade weapons, and fled from there in a few moments, which was also revealed during interrogation by the family members who were with him (Karki),’ Udas
says about the incident, ‘The police headquarters, through the circle, premises, crime branch, had mobilized its mechanisms in the investigation and investigation with equal importance in this matter. Later, I was also transferred elsewhere. What happened in this matter after I was separated from the service a few years later? There is no further update on where the investigation has reached.’
According to some police officers who closely observed the incident and were later deployed for continuous investigation, on the day of the incident, Karki, who was attending a relative’s wedding party, had reached home with his wife and daughter before the party was over. Who incited Karki, who usually stays at weddings/feasts and other functions till the last minute, to go home early that day? The police had taken that matter as a 'clue'. When Karki's wife was also questioned about this matter, it was revealed during the police investigation that she had also told her husband, 'There is a thief around the house, let's go home soon.'
‘After returning from the party, the Karki family had gone to sleep. Meanwhile, Karki’s wife Bhattarai suddenly got up and went out. After that, the investigation reveals that she went back to bed,’ says a retired police officer at the time. ‘We had also asked her why she went out before the incident. She had said, ‘I smelled something, I went out to see what was going on.’ Shortly after, unknown people entered and attacked Karki with sharp weapons. This matter is also mentioned in the preliminary investigation paper.’
Even when she was staying at the police station, her wife had told the investigation officers, ‘I will come out of work and tell everything, I know everything.’ But later, she changed her mind about it, and she did not want to say anything.’
According to the police deployed in the investigation, according to the evidence collected, Karki was taken out of the room and started attacking with sharp weapons. He had resisted for some time. Karki, who had resisted by saying, "You and your daughter should be safe," had even said that he had a pistol under his head, but that night the pistol was in the drawer. If the pistol had been under his head, the situation could have been different. After the incident, blood stains were also found in the tap. According to the police, Karki may have washed the blood off the weapon he used to attack him and fled.
His friend (currently retired SSP) Jeevan Kumar Shrestha was also building a house near Karki's house. Shrestha only came to know about the incident in the morning. ‘We were members of the 105 team, who passed the exam together, and were later posted in different places. Later, ‘He (Kuber Karki) had just moved to a one-story house, I was also planning to move to a house nearby. My house was under construction. We were neighbors,’ says Shrestha, ‘but later I moved from there and moved elsewhere. It has not been revealed to this day who was involved in that incident. That incident still reminds me of the terrible situation.’
After the murder of Karki, who had been Khadka’s bodyguard for a long time, his close associates were also questioned. After the incident, the police questioned Khadka generally, but did not interrogate him in a way that was considered an investigation. At that time, gangs selling stolen vehicle spare parts were also active.
Police personnel at the time say that Karki also had extensive acquaintances and contacts with the workshop owner. The Maoists had just come to power through the peace process. During the conflict, spare parts of vehicles looted/stolen were also bought and sold through workshops. Illegal transactions arising from this were also increasing. According to a police officer at the time who was aware of the incident, an Indian citizen Harbhajan Singh left the workshop in Baneshwor and went to India shortly after Karki's murder.
The police secretly investigated various districts including Dang, Kapilvastu, Banke, and other districts of former Home Minister Khadka. However, Khadka could not be interrogated thoroughly. 'Who dared to talk to Khadka at that time, take a statement?' A former police officer says, 'Initially, family members had raised the issue of asking Khadka to find out, his wife had also said that she would come out of work and tell him, but the day never came to say that, nor did Khadka himself make a statement.' After all, the investigation into a heartbreaking incident has not been completed even today. After Khadka's death on 16 Chaitra 2074, a police officer says that Karki's family members said that he was involved in the incident.
The Kathmandu Police, the then Metropolitan Crime Investigation Division and the Central Investigation Bureau also investigated the incident. Immediately after the incident, the Police Headquarters formed a committee under the leadership of the then DIG. In 2071, the CIB opened an old file on the incident and began questioning some people.
A CIB team also questioned Khadka. However, after that, this issue was not raised in the CIB again. Around 2074/75, the Crime Division also started investigating the incident again. The investigation officer of the division says. "After being dragged into the investigation and interrogation, the deceased's wife said things like, 'The police caused me unnecessary suffering, they forcibly called me to the police office,' and filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission and brought human rights activists. After that, we have not taken this matter forward."
Former SSP Bel Bahadur Pandey, who is from Karki's batch, says that the investigation into this incident is not just for the sake of investigation, but also a matter of prestige, as it is linked to the murder of a sitting police officer. ‘Nowadays, the trend of directing the investigation by market rumors, pressure and influence is increasing. In such a situation, it is a challenge to bring those involved in heinous crimes that have been going on for years to justice, but this is also a matter of the police’s reputation, it is a matter of the murder of one of their colleagues,’ Pandey adds, ‘That is why I believe that this should be investigated with importance.’
Despite being his batchmate, Karki emerged as a promising policeman at that time and Himchim also used to be with big people, says Pandey, who he knew.
‘Although we were from the same batch, he had become close to the political power center in his interactions, company, and confidants. He was hot-headed and, in a way, like a leader. We were behind in this regard,’ says Pandey. ‘In the investigation too, who was his friend, Himchim, these issues should also be considered together.’
