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Gang war in Nepal?
It’s a tale of three killings and an arrest. And all of them could be connected to the flourishing racket in fake Indian currency transported from Pakistan to India via Nepal, reports Utpal Parashar.
It’s a tale of three killings and an arrest. And all of them could be connected to the flourishing racket in fake Indian currency transported from Pakistan to India via Nepal.
Sunday’s daylight murder of Jamim Shah, a media tycoon, by sharpshooters in Kathmandu could be linked with two other murders and the arrest of a young politician—all in the space of four months.
Although his role had never been established, Shah, a Nepali citizen of Kashmiri origin, was allegedly connected to India’s most wanted criminal Dawood Ibrahim and his fake currency racket. Police are probing the international links behind the murder while a former aide of underworld don Chota Rajan called a private television channelhere claiming responsibility for Shah’s murder for his alleged anti-India activities.
On October 2 last year, Majid Manihar, another prominent fake currency operator, was found dead at a hotel in Nepalganj. Indian intelligence agencies had suspected involvement of Chota Shakeel, a Dawood associate, in the murder.
Hindustan Times had reported that Majid’s willingness to surrender to Indian security agencies and his animosity with Shah (who suspected Majid’s role in his dwindling business fortunes) could have resulted in his death. This murder was followed by another on December 25 when Pervez Tanda, one of Uttar Pradesh’s most wanted criminals was killed in an inter-gang rivalry in Butwal in Nepal. Tanda who hailed from UP was allegedly an ISI agent and dealt with stolen Indian cars in Nepal.
Exactly a week after Tanda’s death, Yunus Ansari, a Nepali politician, his associate and two Pakistani nationals were arrested on January 1 in Kathmandu and fake Indian currency worth Rs 25.4 lakh recovered from them.
Chairman of Rastriya Janata Dal and son of former minister Salim Miyan Ansari, he is believed to be the biggest conduit of fake Indian currency from Nepal and was arrested on behest of Indian investigation agencies.
