KATHMANDU, Oct 29: Police have termed the death of Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Sushil Bhandari of Nepal Police and two others in a vehicle accident in Dhakalthok, Kavre on Saturday as “suspicious”.
Police sources informed Republica that they have kept the driver of the ill-fated private jeep, Pradip Bogati, who is undergoing treatment at Dhulikhel Hospital, under surveillance. The sources said although Bogati’s family wanted to bring him to B&B Hospital, police had asked the family not to shift him to another hospital. Bogati is the owner of a company that supplies sand, pebbles and stones in Kavre.
The police chief of Kavre district SP Rabi Raj Khadka claimed that the accident was ‘suspicious’.
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“The road was a difficult one but the bend where the accident took place is not difficult,” he said. “Therefore, the accident is suspicious.”
It has also been found that DIG Bhandari, who was not on duty on Saturday, had left his bodyguards at Panchkhal.
Sources from the district told Republica that DIG Bhandari has an investment in Chalal Ganesh Aggregates Private Limited, whose other nine investors are currently in Bali, Indonesia. DIG Bhandari himself was heading to Australia on Monday where his family is currently living.
It is learnt that DIG Bhandari had reached Kavre to see another mining area, from where they could extract sand, stones and aggregates.
According to Nepal Police Spokesperson SSP Uttam Raj Subedi, DIG Bhandari had even taken leave from office from Monday. Sources claimed that he had investments in the company since he was a Superintendent of Police (SP).
According to Article 96 of Police Act 2012, a police officer is restricted from forming or owning any private business organization. Similarly, chapter 9 of the act prohibits any police official from taking part in a profit-making organization.
Bhandari was promoted to the post of DIG in May after which he had been serving as the chief of the Research and Planning Directorate at Police Headquarters, Naxal.
