Dilip Kumar Prajapati ('Bhisma'), general secretary of the Young Communist League, and Krishna Hari Saiju ('Bibek') have spoken out for the first time about their involvement on the murder of first Inspector General of the Armed Police Force Krishna Mohan Shrestha, his wife Nudup and bodyguard Surya Regmi, who were killed on 26 January 2003.

"The orders to kill the IGP came from the central committee and Nishchal Nakarmi, Surendra Shrestha, Rajkumar Shrestha and Bina Magar of PLA Special Task Force were also involved during the planning stages. Nakarmi and Magar were arrested later and are among the many who were disappeared at the Bhairabnath Battalion," said Saiju.

"At first we did not know much about the plan to kill the IGP or about his lifesyle, soon we sent our people to snoop around his residence and later learnt that he goes for regular morning walks, but would change routes for security purposes.

Shrestha was under surveillance since July 2002 and our plan was to take action by September 2002. We failed 16 times because he was always changing his routine," adds Prajapati.

"In mid January 2003 PLA's special commander Umesh Lama and I, section members Rolpali Magar and Juju Bhai Guerrilla arrived in Bagdol, Lalitpur. Guerrilla is now company commander of PLA's Third Division and Lama is not in the PLA anymore. On the night of 25 January, I was called by Lama and was informed about the plan to attack IGP Shrestha in front of a restaurant while he was walking on the road," said Saiju.

Magar, Guerrilla, Lama, and Saiju set out early in the morning on 26 January. "When we saw IGP Shrestha, his wife, and his bodyguard coming down from Ekanta Kuna, Lama took charge. Our plan was to kill Shrestha and shoot his wife in the leg. At 7.30 AM we came face to face with Shrestha, but he and his bodyguard did not recognise us because we were in civvies. The plan was to have Magar in the middle of the road, Lama, Guerrilla and I on the side. We were standing 2-3 metres apart and were to finish our job in two minutes, but it did not take us that long. They were killed in a few seconds. Guerrilla's pistol was not covered, so when he took it out, it fired by mistake and hit me in my thigh. I lost consciousness. Just as I opened my eyes Magar and Guerrilla shot the IGP, and his wife. Magar then aimed at the bodyguard but his pistol didn't fire. Magar was coming to grab mine when Lama fired at the bodyguard. After he was hit, Magar ran to a secure place and Guerrilla and Lama came to get me," Saiju added. Police later arrested Saiju from Patan Hospital where he was undergoing treatment.