The Central Jail shooting and other incidents raise questions on Nepal Police’s honesty!
Jashwant Singh who tried to murder an inmate in the Central Jail.
On March 10, Indian national Jashwant Singh went through the security checking of the Central Jail to meet an inmate. In the visitor’s lounge, he produced a pistol and shot at Yunus Ansari – a son of former minister of Nepal who is in judicial custody for his involvement in fake Indian currency smuggling.
Ansari, a person who has been long accused for being an aide to Dubai-based notorious crime don Dawood Ibrahim, was lucky to survive for somebody nearby spotted the pistol. Singh was immediately arrested and police claim that he is a professional criminal and is wanted for four murder cases in India.
The incident raises a few questions about Nepal Police – especially regarding the honesty and efficiency of the police personnel.
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A few days ago, a deserter Armed Police Force (APF) constable was arrested with a Sub Machine Gun (SMG) in Pokhara. He later told police that he paid a APF man money to buy the SMG, pistols and bullets from APF armory.
Kuber Pun, 25, sold two pistols and using other weapons was involved in major robberies in Pokhara.
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A couple of weeks ago, a gang tried to burn alive a worker along with an excavator after the housing group didn’t give money to Deepak Manange – the don. The don, who is imprisoned, did continue managing his gang to carry on all his illegal works including extortion. It was found that the don was using mobile phones inside the jail to mobilize his gang.
He was transferred to the Central Jail’s most secure cell and within a week, reports came that he was using the mobile phone there too.
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If all those cases are analysed, an evident common aspect seems to be involvement of police personnel in helping criminals. There are a few recent incidents where police were involved in crime themselves; and it leads to a sad and painful conclusion that police personnel are increasingly being disloyal towards their responsibility.
If this is not checked in time, this could take an explosive form in future.
In the Central Jail shooting incident, either security checking policemen were involved or they were not performing their duty responsibly. Both is dangerous.
Such incidents have brought disgrace to Nepal Police, which is competent enough in investigation. Some blame too much political influence whereas others criticise poor facilities and training of the lower-ranked security personnel. It could be any, but it’s high time that Nepal Police look into those problems seriously.
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After the shooting, Salim Miya Ansari, former minister, publicly accused Indian Embassy (and Nepal Police) for planning the murder attempt. It was aggression of course, but an accusation from a person who was at some point a minister should do enough to damage the already degrading image of the southern neighbor.
There is already a growing number of Nepalis who are dissatisfied, and angry, with the way Indian Embassy is working in Nepal. Murder of Jamim Shah and murder attempt of Ansari, the people repeatedly framed in Indian media as aide to Dawood and Pakistani agents, do give the space to such speculations.
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Whatsoever is the case, for betterment of Nepal Police and also for India, the police should investigate the case to the depth and bring forward the detail information regarding the murder attempt in a way that satisfies people – and yes, very importantly, plan out ways to block embarrassing security holes.
