National
33 kg gold smuggling case: Police arrest Gore’s accomplice
Police on Thursday arrested an accomplice of Chudamani Upreti aka Gore, the alleged mastermind of 33 kg gold smuggling case and subsequent murder of Sanam Shakya, an alleged carrier of smuggled gold who was electrocuted to death.Police on Thursday arrested an accomplice of Chudamani Upreti aka Gore, the alleged mastermind of 33 kg gold smuggling case and subsequent murder of Sanam Shakya, an alleged carrier of smuggled gold who was electrocuted to death.
According to the Biratnagar-based District Police Office, Rewant Kumar Acharya, 38, of Urlabari, Morang, was arrested last night.
Acharya was detained after Gore revealed his name while recording statement at the Morang District Court.
It has been learnt that Acharya, an owner of a jewellery shop at Urlabari, had helped in giving torture to the alleged gold carriers while searching for the missing gold. He is said to be a cadre of the then CPN-UML.
The Morang District Court has been recording the statement of Gore for the past three days.
Though Gore said that other persons are also involved in the case, he has not revealed their names yet.
While recording this statement, Gore had denied his involvement in the murder of Shakya.
He, however, said that he had thrashed Shakya while searching for the missing gold.
Earlier on Wednesday, the court had issued an order to transfer 26 suspects incudling former Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Govinda Prasad Niraula to the Regional Prison in Jhumka, Sunsari. They were taken to Jhuma due to lack of space at the District Police Office, Morang.
Among the accused, one person was released on general date and another on bail.
A special team formed to probe the gold smuggling case led by Home Ministry Joint-secretary Ishwor Poudel, had arrested Gore from Gaurighat in Kathmandu on Tuesday morning.
Gore had entered Nepal last week from India via Jhapa before heading for Kathmandu. He was paraded before the media at the premises of the Home Ministry on Tuesday noon.
During the investigation, police came to know that Gore and his associates had managed to smuggle more than 3,790 kg gold from Dubai via Tribhuvan International Airport in 421 trips since July 2015.