Nepal's deposed king Gyanendra and his son 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.
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 former crown prince Paras was behind the killing of the family of the former King, said the report, which quoted the news agency RSS as saying.
According to the report, Magar, who claimed that he was one of the bodyguards of Deependra at the time when the massacre took place, accused Paras of involvement in the killing when Maoist parliamentarian 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.
Gyanendra, who for the first time acquired a passport in his name at the age of 64 last month, is in India on a personal visit since the first week of December
64-year-old Gyanendra vacated the royal palace in the heart of the capital in June 2008, two weeks after the 601-member Constituent Assembly's abolished the monarchy. Mass protests against Gyanendra that began in April 2006 finally culminated in the abolition of the 240-year-old monarchy soon after the CPN-Maoist emerged as the largest party in the constitutional assembly polls last year.
Many ordinary Nepalese were delighted to see the back of the dour, unpopular king as well as his son Paras.
Gyanendra, who has become a commoner after being forced to step down in May last year, will now pay tax under proposals cleared by the Nepalese Cabinet.
The government announced setting up of a committee to work out the procedure for imposing taxes on royal property.The royal dynasty earlier enjoyed a tax-free regime with even his payment for usage of water, electricity paid by the state.
Gyanendra is believed to have extensive business interests. During his nearly one-month tour of India, the former monarch was scheduled to attend a wedding in Orissa, meet former royals in Rajasthan and hold discussions with top political leaders and officials in the Indian capital, reports said. PTI
