Murder case against Nepalese army chief

Kathmandu, June 20 (UNI) A murder case has been filed against Nepal Chief of the Army Staff General Pyar Jung Thapa and four others, according to media reports.

The case was filed by the wife of a person, who was among 49 people allegedly arrested for questioning in September 2003 by the Nepali Army's Bhairabnath Battalion at Maharajguni but never returned, the Kathmandu Post reported.

General Thapa was then Commandant, Bhairabnath Battalion.

Ram Maya Nakarmi, wife of Padam Narayan Nakarmi, has accused the army officials of torturing and killing the detainees, including her husband, the paper said.

She has named Lieutenant Colonel Raju Basnet, Major Bibek Bista, Captain Indibar Rana and chief of the Directorate of Military Intelligence Dilip Rayamajhi, besides General Thapa in her complaint.

In her complaint, Maya Nakarmi has alleged that army personnel took her husband Padam Narayan from their house in Lalitpur sub-metropolis Ward No. 3, saying they had to question him, the newspaper said. ''When I asked them who they were they even produced their identity cards,'' she said.

Some detainees had told her that the officials were involved in the torture and killing of detainees, Maya Nakarmi was quoted by the Post as saying.

A UN report has confirmed the disappearance of 49 people from army barracks.

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