King Dipendra of Nepal has died just two days after Friday's massacre at the royal palace left eight dead, including his parents, the former king and queen.
Crown Prince Dipendra, as he then was, reportedly opened fire on his family after a disagreement over his choice of bride on Friday evening. The Eton-educated, 30-year-old prince then turned the gun on himself, surviving for 48 hours in a coma before succumbing to the self-inflicted wound early on Monday morning. During that brief time he was named king.
The Nepalese interior minister had originally said Crown Prince Dipendra shot his family and then attempted to commit suicide, but he later retracted that story.
Prince Gyanendra, who was crowned king on Monday, said in a radio broadcast Sunday that the royal massacre was the result of an “accidental firing from an automatic weapon.”
A reported forty bullets were removed from the bodies of Prince Nirajan, aged 22, and King Birendra, 55. Other casualties include Queen Aishwarya, 51, Dipendra’s sister Princess Shruti, 24, and six others.
“There were constitutional and legal difficulties in expressing what had actually transpired,” says the new king. Though no more details were forthcoming, Gyanendra has vowed to continue an investigation into the events of Friday evening.
The king, who will be cremated on Monday as per Hindu law, hoped to marry Devyani Rana, the daugther of a former government minister and member of the aristocratic Rana family which ruled Nepal until 1951. The Queen is said to have disapproved of the union, hoping her son would marry a girl from the Gorakh Rana family, into which Princess Shruti had married. A shocked and fearful Devyani is said to have fled to India.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
