Kathmandu blasts: Breakthrough likely with four arrests

By Sudeshna Sarkar

Kathmandu, Sep 26 (IANS) More than three weeks after simultaneous blasts killed three people and injured over two dozen in Kathmandu’s worst terror attack, police arrested four men in what could be the first breakthrough.


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Sanjiv Shah, Upendra Shah, Jagat Narayan Sharma and Ram Lakhan Sharma, all from the Terai plains in south Nepal, have been arrested on the suspicion of being involved in the Sep 2 attacks.

While police remained tight-lipped about the four suspects, a report said they were living in the Kupondol area of Kathmandu valley from where they were arrested Friday.

The Jana Aastha weekly, known for its sources in the police and army, said the four men had confessed that they had helped the two main culprits, who are also from the Terai.

Two men are suspected to have engineered the three explosions in crowded public places, including a bus, killing two high school students and a 54-year-old grandmother.

The four men reportedly told police that the two main suspects were Kaushal Kumar Sahani and Rampriya Sahani, both architects and residents of the Terai.

According to police, the two Sahanis came to Kathmandu two days before the blast and stayed with the four arrested men.

They also admitted to taking the men around the valley on a reconnaissance trip, Jana Aastha said.

The two architects are also reported to have called up various media organisations soon after the attack, claiming they were the handiwork of an obscure armed group from the Terai.

Soon after the bombs went off, the four reportedly escorted the two visitors to a commercial area of the city and helped them board a bus and escape from the valley.

Most of the six men are from Rautahat district, one of the most trouble-prone districts in the Terai.

The four men were presented in Kathmandu district court Sunday and were remanded in police custody. The entire proceeding was kept under wraps.

Though three little-known groups from the plains claimed responsibility for the blasts that shook Kathmandu, Nepal’s political parties believe they were engineered to spread terror and disrupt the crucial constituent assembly election scheduled for Nov 22.

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala Wednesday once again ruled out postponing the election despite pressure from the Maoists, who left the government this month and vowed to disrupt the polls.

With Koirala’s Nepali Congress, the biggest party in Nepal, Tuesday reuniting with a breakaway faction, the Nepali Congress (Democratic) of deposed premier Sher Bahadur Deuba, the chances of elections being held in time have been strengthened.

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