Gyanendra planned 2001 massacre, claims ex-guard

Kathmandu, Dec. 25: The deposed king, Mr Gyanendra, and his son, Mr Paras, were involved in the 2001 palace massacre that killed ex-monarch Birendra along with most of his family, a Nepalese prisoner, who claimed to be a former royal bodyguard, has alleged.

Mr Gyanendra has been at the centre of many conspiracy theories, including the palace massacre that killed his popular older brother Birendra along with most of the royal family by the then crown prince Dipendra, who was allegedly fuelled by a cocktail of drugs and alcohol.

Lal Bahadur Magar, who is serving a jail term Birgunj jail on charge of killing a couple, claimed that he was an eye-witness to the royal massacre, according to a report in eKantipur, the online news portal of Kathmandu Post newspaper.

Magar claimed that the former crown prince, Mr Paras, was behind the killing of the family of the former King, said the report, which quoted the news agency RSS as saying.

Report said, Magar claim-ed that he was one of the bo-dyguards of Mr Deependra at the time when the massacre took place, accused Mr Paras of involvement in the killing when the Maoist parliamentarian, Mr Leela Kumar Baga, went to meet him in the jail on Thursday. The prisoner alleged that Gyanendra had a hand in the massacre, the news portal reported.