Blood money paid to Tiwari family to save Minister Prabhu Sah
BIMAL GAUTAM/SHREEJANA SHRESTHA
KATHMANDU, Oct 13: Family members of Kashi Nath Tiwari, who was shot dead one year ago, claimed at a press conference on Wednesday that they have been paid blood money, asking them not to implicate Minister for Land Reform and Management Prabhu Sah in Tiwari´s murder.
According to Tiwari´s widow Babita and Om Prabesh Patel, a member of the Bishwo Hindu Yuba Sangh, former chief district officer (CDO) of Parsa and currently Joint Secretary at the Land Reform Ministry, Nagendra Jha, invited them to his house Tuesday morning and paid them Rs 800,000, asking them to say publicly that they don´t know who masterminded Tiwari´s killing.
Tiwari, chairman of Bishwo Hindu Yuba Sangh, was shot dead a year ago, and Jha was CDO of Parsa at the time.
Babita said that Jha repeatedly phoned them and persuaded them to come to Kathmandu after Parsa district police office submitted an investigation report to the Office of the District Public Prosecutor implicating Sah as the mastermind in Tiwari´s killing.
"After repeated urgings by Jha, we came to Kathmandu Monday evening," said Patel, who has accompanied Babita to the capital. "We went to Jha´s house at Baneshwor, where he gave us a sum of Rs 800,000," he said.
According to Patel, Jha also asked them to meet Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai Tuesday afternoon and tell gathered journalists that they had no idea about Minister Sah´s involvement in Tiwari´s murder.
Asked why they readily accepted the money offered by Jha, Patel said, "We couldn´t decline the money at that moment because we were already afraid of the possible consequences if we declined the offer."
Though they left Jha´s residence with the money, they declined to meet Prime Minister Bhattrai Tuesday evening as arranged by Jha. "We didn´t go to see the prime minister," Patel said.
Instead, Patel, Babita and her brother-in-law Paryag Tiwari consulted human rights activists and lawyers and with their help organised a press conference this afternoon at Yalamaya Kendra, Lalitpur to inform about the blood money.
At the press conference, Babita calimed that Jha had given his word to find her a job, educate her children and fulfill all her demands if they refrained from blaming Minister Sah in connection with the murder.
Related news: Case dropped against Minister Sah
"I don´t want money; I just want the culprit to be booked and punished," Babita said, adding, "If the former CDO wanted to help me, why was he silent till today"? She also said that Parsa SP Ramesh Kharel was an honest officer who investiged the case and tried to bring the guilty to book.
SP Kharel started investigating the year-old murder case immediately after he was transferred to Parsa a few months ago. Police recently arrested Aman Kushwaha, who admitted that he was paid Rs.200,000 to ride a bike that the hitman would pillion-ride. He also disclosed that Minister Sah´s personal secretary, Siyaram Kushwaha, was the pillion rider who pulled the trigger on Tiwari.
Aman also told police that the murder plan was finalized under the direction and in the presence of Sah.
Jha has, however, claimed that he never gave any money to Tiwari family members as claimed by them. "It is true that they came to my home Tuesday morning. I offered tea but I haven´t given them money. Their allegations are baseless." Asked why he met the Tiwari family at such a sensitive time, Jha said, "They repeatedly asked me to help them and so I met Tiwari´s relatives."
Jha has a controversial record himself. A top government official said that only recently the Ministry of Home Affairs had transferred Jha to the Ministry of Land Reform following his "controversial activities" in his capacity as CDO.
Tiwari family members are now preparing to lodge a complaint at the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) against Joint Secretary Jha, accusing him of bribing them. "We are preparing to file complaint against Jha at the anti-graft body as we found his activities unlawful. We will also hand over the Rs 800,000 to the CIAA Thursday," Patel told Republica.
Lawyers and human right activists have demanded an immediate probe into the incident.
"What is the source of the Rs 800,000," Advocate Tikaram Bhattarai questioned, "The source of that money must be probed as this is a very serious matter." He further demanded that Prime Minister Bhattarai also be brought under investigations over this affair.
Last edited: 12-Oct-11 07:29 PM
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