The Morang District Court on Friday recorded the statements from five suspects arrested in connection with the murder of Sanam Shakya, an alleged carrier of the 33 kg smuggled gold.

According to court registrar Nawaraj Dulal, Rajan Kumar, Madan Prasad Ghimire, Mohan Kafle, Lakpa Sherpa and Narendra Karki recorded their statements before District Judge Narayan Prasad Sharma on Friday. He said the statement of another accused in the murder case, Ekraj Malla, will be recorded on Sunday. 

Kafle, of Urlabari in Morang district, Karki and Thakur were arrested on March 3 after the body of Shakya was recovered from the boot of a vehicle. Police investigation has revealed that Shakya was tortured to death by giving electric shock. 

A team of Metropolitan Police Crime Division led by DSP Prajit KC and Sub inspector Bal Kirshna had recovered Shaky’s body from the boot of a Scorpio jeep (Ba 12 Cha 5963) on March 3.  They were arrested from Biratnagar Metropolitan City-3 and handed over to Morang District Police.

The court started recording statements of the suspects from Thursday.

On Wednesday, police had produced 29 suspects arrested in connection with the smuggling of 33 kg gold and subsequent murder of Shakya, including former Deputy Inspector General Govinda Niraula, Senior Superintendent of Police Dibesh Lohani, Superintendent of Police Bikashraj Khanal, Deputy Superintendent of Polic duo Prajit KC and Sanjaya Raut, Sub-Inspector Balkrishna Sanjel and Police Constable Bishnu Khadka, before the court.

Thirty-four suspects in the case are on the run.

The District Attorney’s Office (DAO) had filed a charge sheet against 63 suspects on Wednesday, recommending Rs 17 billion and Rs 18 million in fines as per the report prepared by a high-level committee formed to probe into the case.  The probe panel has concluded that Chudamani Upreti aka Gore, the alleged mastermind behind gold smuggling, and his accomplices smuggled 3,999.6 kg of gold since July 2015.