Nepal Official Report: The Prince Did It Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Thursday June 14 3:54 PM ET Official Probe Blames Prince for Nepal Massacre By David Fox KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal's Crown Prince Dipendra gunned down almost his entire family, including his parents the King and Queen, in a drink- and drug-fueled rage, an official investigation concluded on Thursday. The royal commission said witness after witness had testified that a drunken Dipendra was responsible for the June 1 palace massacre and had fatally shot himself afterwards. "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince...fired rat-tat-tat at His Majesty the King," Taranath Ranabhatt, parliamentary speaker and a commission member, told a news conference broadcast live to a nation still reeling from the events of two weeks ago. He said Dipendra had drunk alcohol and smoked hashish before killing his parents and seven other members of the royal family. The findings confirmed what the 22 million people of the world's only Hindu kingdom had feared -- despite an initial line from palace officials that the killings had been an accident. But whether Nepal's people accept the commission's findings that it was a lone, crazed act remains to be seen -- there is much talk of conspiracy on the streets of Kathmandu. RIOTS AFTER CORONATION Riots broke out after the new king, Gyanendra, the late King Birendra's brother, was crowned last week. Many monarchists refused to believe that Dipendra, the well-liked, 29-year-old Eton-educated heir to the throne, could have gunned down his family in a drunken rage prompted apparently by his parents' disapproval of his choice of bride. But the commission's report, available on the Internet at www.ntc.net.np, found that he had smoked a joint of hashish before the shootings and that his orderly regularly rolled hashish-laced cigarettes for him. The inquiry also said the last call made on Dipendra's mobile phone, minutes before he went on the rampage, was to Devyani Rana, the woman with whom he had a close relationship. Speaker Ranabhatt said Devyani had given testimony to Nepali embassy officials in India after fleeing Kathmandu in the aftermath of the slaughter but had refused to comment on the nature of her relationship with Dipendra. The crown prince's last words to her were: "I'm now going to sleep, goodnight. We'll talk tomorrow." But in fact he dressed in combat fatigues and, with five weapons including a commando M-16 assault rifle -- used by some of the world's most elite troops -- fired over 75 rounds in the killing spree. He wore black gloves. He gurgled when aides found him after he had shot himself. ANCIENT CEREMONY Before Dipendra's guilt was officially confirmed, traditionalists on Thursday bade him farewell in an ancient Hindu ceremony they hoped would banish the palace's ill fortune. As crown prince, Dipendra had been proclaimed king as he lay dying in a coma from the self-inflicted gunshot wound. And as a monarch who died tragically, traditional Hindus believe he too needed a "katto" ceremony performed on his behalf -- as for his murdered father on Monday. A vegetarian Brahman priest deliberately defiled himself to assume Dipendra's woes by eating a meal laced with animal fat. He then dressed as Dipendra and crossed the Bagmati River on an elephant. At first, the elephant appeared reluctant to go. As Nepali dignitaries slapped the creature to send the bad luck on its way, the elephant turned tail and chased them up a narrow path. Once brought under control, it lumbered across the river -- this time to a fusillade of stones and rotting fruit thrown by the now vengeful onlookers. The priest will be banished for the rest of his life, supported in exile by gifts and money donated by well-wishers. The impoverished Himalayan nation, poised strategically between nuclear powers China and India, has been racked by a Maoist rebellion that has cost over 1,600 lives since 1995 and is in the grip of a political crisis because of a parliamentary boycott by opposition deputies. Even before the shootout, angry youths sought a cause to vent pent-up emotions -- "against the government, against anyone," the Kathmandu Post newspaper said. "They've found one now." ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytas-06.14.01-22:56:15-20682