The Nepalese Royal Massacre occurred on 1 June 2001, at a house in the grounds of the Narayanhity Royal Palace, the residence of the Nepalese monarchy. Prince Dipendra killed ten members of family during a party or monthly reunion dinner of the royal family in the house. The dead included King Birendra of Nepal and Queen Aishwarya.Later, Prince Dipendra became de jure King of Nepal upon his father's death when in coma and died in hospital three days after the massacre without recovering from the coma.Birendra's brother Gyanendra became king after the massacre and the death of King Dipendra.According to reports, at the dinner, CP Dipendra had been drinking heavily, had smoked large quantities of hashish and "misbehaved" with a guest, which resulted in his father, King Birendra, telling his oldest son, Dipendra, to leave the party. So, Dipendra was escorted to his room by his brother Prince Nirajan and cousin Prince Paras.About an hour later, Dipendra returned to the party armed with an H&K MP5, a Franchi SPAS-12 and an M16. He fired a single shot into the ceiling before pointing the gun to his father, King Birendra. When his uncle Dhirendra tried to dissuade Dipendra from doing so, he shot his uncle in the chest at point-blank range.[2] This was the beginning of the horrific massacre. During the attack, Dipendra darted in and out of the hall several times, firing shots at each return. Although King Birendra managed to stay alive at the first attack, he sustained some injuries. Excerpts from the official probe report, prepared by a two-member committee in Kathmandu, states that King Birendra made an abortive last-minute attempt to shoot at Dipendra as the latter fired indiscriminately at the royals. Dipendra had thrown the 9mm caliber MP5 automatic submachine gun into the billiards room, when he returned for a second time. The king managed to take hold of it, however, his sister Princess Shova Shahi snatched the weapon from him and pulled out the magazine of the gun assuming it to be the only weapon Dipendra had. While this continued, Prince Paras suffered slight injuries and managed to save at least three royals, including two children, by pulling a sofa over them.[2] The above version of the story is reportedly the one that Shova Shahi told the official committee. Corroborating Shova Shahi's version, Prince Paras is quoted as having said, "She [Shova] must have thought that it was the only weapon Dai (Dipendra) had but I saw that he had much more weapons.
Many Nepalese people are skeptical of the official report that the then Crown Prince Dipendra carried out the murder.[17] King Birendra and his son Dipendra were very popular and well respected by the Nepalese population. Subsequently, Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, the chairman of the Nepalese Maoist Party, in a public gathering claimed that the massacre was planned by the Indian intelligence agency RAW or the American CIA.[18] Promoters of these ideas allege Gyanendra had a hand in the massacre so that he could assume the throne himself. His ascension to the throne would only be possible if both of his nephews Dipendra and Nirajan were eliminated. Moreover, Gyanendra and especially his son Prince Paras were grossly unpopular with the public. On the day of the massacre he was in Pokhara whilst other royals were attending a dinner function. His wife Komal, Paras and daughter Prerana were in the room at the royal palace during the massacre. While the entire families of Birendra and Dipendra were wiped out, nobody in Gyanendra's family died: his son escaped with slight injuries,[19] and his wife sustained a life-threatening bullet wound but survived.Despite the fact that two survivors have publicly confirmed that Dipendra did the shooting, as was documented in a BBC documentary,[4] the chain of events is disputed by some Nepalese. After the monarchy was abolished through a populist uprising there have been several claims refuting the official report, among them is a book published in Nepal named Raktakunda recounting the massacre.[21] It looks at the incident through the eyes of one of the surviving witnesses, Queen Mother Ratna's personal maid, identified in the book as Shanta. The book, which the author says is a "historical novel", posits that two men masked as Crown Prince Dipendra fired the shots that led to the massacre. Shanta's husband, Trilochan Acharya, also a royal palace employee, was killed along with 10 royal family members, including the entire family of King Birendra. In addition to details of the royal massacre, Shanta alleged many other cover-ups by the royal family, including a claim that the previous king King Mahendra committed suicide.
Many Nepalese people are skeptical of the official report that the then Crown Prince Dipendra carried out the murder.[17] King Birendra and his son Dipendra were very popular and well respected by the Nepalese population. Subsequently, Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, the chairman of the Nepalese Maoist Party, in a public gathering claimed that the massacre was planned by the Indian intelligence agency RAW or the American CIA.[18] Promoters of these ideas allege Gyanendra had a hand in the massacre so that he could assume the throne himself. His ascension to the throne would only be possible if both of his nephews Dipendra and Nirajan were eliminated. Moreover, Gyanendra and especially his son Prince Paras were grossly unpopular with the public. On the day of the massacre he was in Pokhara whilst other royals were attending a dinner function. His wife Komal, Paras and daughter Prerana were in the room at the royal palace during the massacre. While the entire families of Birendra and Dipendra were wiped out, nobody in Gyanendra's family died: his son escaped with slight injuries,[19] and his wife sustained a life-threatening bullet wound but survived.Despite the fact that two survivors have publicly confirmed that Dipendra did the shooting, as was documented in a BBC documentary,[4] the chain of events is disputed by some Nepalese. After the monarchy was abolished through a populist uprising there have been several claims refuting the official report, among them is a book published in Nepal named Raktakunda recounting the massacre.[21] It looks at the incident through the eyes of one of the surviving witnesses, Queen Mother Ratna's personal maid, identified in the book as Shanta. The book, which the author says is a "historical novel", posits that two men masked as Crown Prince Dipendra fired the shots that led to the massacre. Shanta's husband, Trilochan Acharya, also a royal palace employee, was killed along with 10 royal family members, including the entire family of King Birendra. In addition to details of the royal massacre, Shanta alleged many other cover-ups by the royal family, including a claim that the previous king King Mahendra committed suicide.
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