The Morang District Court on Thursday started recording statements of five more persons accused in 33 kg gold smuggling case and subsequent murder of Sanam Shakya, an alleged carrier.

With this, the number of persons who recorded their statements before District Judge Narayan Prasad Sharma has reached 20. The District Court is yet to record statements from 10 more persons.

Main accused Rajan Kumar, Tek Raj Malla Thakuri, Madan Prasad Ghimire aka Madhav, Mohan Kafle, Lakpa Sherpa and Narendra Karki aka Krishna and businessmen Bujung Gurung, Rajendra Kumar Shakya and Mahabir Golyan and airport staffers Lal Bahadur Magar, Birendraman Shrestha, Doram Khatri, Kapil Raj Puri and Bal Krishna Shrestha and DSP Bal Krishna Sanjel have already recorded their statements before District Judge Narayan Prasad Sharma as of Sunday.

Lawyers have said that suspects held in connection with the 33kg gold smuggling case and murder of Shakya have changed their statements to the Morang District Court.

They said that their statements were different from what police had recorded earlier.

The court is preparing to complete the recording of statements by Tuesday. On Wednesday, the District Attorney’s Office filed a charge sheet against a total of 63 suspects, recommending Rs17 billion and Rs18 million in fines in line with the report prepared by a high-level committee and an investigation carried out by the Morang Police.

According to a report presented by the high-level committee headed by Joint-secretary Ishwor Poudel, Chudamani Upreti aka Gore, the alleged mastermind of gold smuggling, and his accomplices had smuggled 3,999.6 kg gold since July 2015. The DAO has filed such charges as organised crime, murder, abduction and hostage against the accused.

Former Deputy Inspector General Govinda Niraula, Senior Superintendent of Police Dibesh Lohani, Superintendent of Police Bikashraj Khanal, Deputy Superintendent of Police duo Prajit KC and Sanjaya Raut, Sub-inspector Balkrishna Sanjel and Police Constable Bishnu Khadka and four employees of the Nepal Airlines Corporation have been held in connection with the case.

The 33kg gold smuggled through the Tribhuvan International Airport had mysteriously disappeared from Kathmandu. The smuggling case drew much public attention following the murder of Shakya, a resident of Urlabari in Morang, on March 2.