The Morang District Court on Thursday started recording statements of six of the 63 accused in 33 kg gold smuggling case and the subsequent murder of Sanam Shakya, an alleged smuggler.

However, the recording of the statement will continue on Friday as it could not be completed today.

Registrar of the District Court Nawaraj Dulal said the Court started to record statements of Rajan Kumar, Ekraj Malla Thakuri, Madan Prasad Ghimire, Mohan Kafle, Lakpa Sherpa and Narendra Karki in the presence of District Judge Narayan Prasad Sharma.

Kafle, Karki and Thakuri were arrested on March 3 after Sanam Shakya, an alleged runner of the smuggled gold, was found murdered in Urlabari on March 2. The Court has planned to record the statements of all other suspects by May 8.

The District Attorney’s Office (DAO) on Wednesday filed a charge-sheet at the court against 63 suspects—29 arrested individuals and 34 absconding—in the gold smuggling case and the murder of Shakya. The suspects have been pressed charges of organised crime, murder, abduction and hostage taking.

Based on the report prepared by a high-level committee formed to probe into Sanam Shakya’s murder and gold smuggling, DAO filed the charge-sheet against the accused, seeking Rs 17 billion and 18 million in fines.

The probe panel headed by Joint-secretary Ishwor Poudel concluded that Chudamani Upreti aka Gore, the alleged mastermind behind the gold smuggling, and his accomplices smuggled 3,999.6kg of gold since July 2015.

Twenty-nine suspects, including former DIG Govinda Niraula, SSP Dibesh Lohani, SP Bikashraj Khanal, DSPs Prajit KC and Sanjaya Raut, Sub-Inspector Balkrishna Sanjel and constable Bishnu Khadka were produced before the court on Wednesday. Thirty-four others are still on the run. 

The DAO filed a 153-page charge sheet against the suspected smugglers and their accomplices.

The high-level committee had arrested SSP Lohani after he came in contact with the  District Police Office, Morang on Tuesday. They detained   Lohani and presented him at the court on Wednesday.

SSP Lohani had led the investigation into the murder of Shakya, an alleged runner of the smuggled gold, and its the disappearance, when he was the chief of Metropolitan Police Crime Division.

Lohani had sent DSP KC and Sub-Inspector Sanjel to Morang to investigate the Shakya murder case and apprehend Upreti. Lohani claimed that he had taken verbal permission from AIG Bam Bahadur Bhandari to investigate the case and that he had reported regularly to Nepal Police headquarters about the incident.

The 33 kg gold smuggled through the Tribhuvan International Airport had mysteriously disappeared from Kathmandu before reaching its intended destination. The smuggling case drew much public attention following the murder of Shakya, a native of Urlabari, Morang.