Pubdate: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Copyright: 2001 San Jose Mercury News Contact: http://www.sjmercury.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390 Author: Barry Bearak, New York Times PRINCE WAS HIGH, SAYS MASSACRE REPORT Nepalese Doubt Official Story After Panel Blames King's Son For Unexplained Rampage That Killed 10 Members Of Royal Family KATMANDU, Nepal -- Before he massacred the king, the queen and most of the rest of Nepal's royal family, Crown Prince Dipendra was not only tipsy from whiskey but also high on ``a special kind of cigarette'' containing hashish, according to details released Thursday by a panel of inquiry. Then, after being escorted to his bedroom, he called his girlfriend, Devyani Rana, three times from his mobile phone before returning to a dinner party in combat dress, ``armed on both sides'' with rifles and other guns. His orderly saw his outfit and assumed the prince was about to go out. When he asked if the prince required anything else, he replied, ``It's not necessary now,'' and went off to kill his family. Thursday's official report on the June 1 palace blood bath, like the unofficial accounts from witnesses that came before it, placed the blame on Dipendra alone. A synopsis of the findings was read in Nepali and English on state TV and radio. Taranath Ranabhat, speaker of the House of Representatives and a member of the committee, posed for cameras, at one point holding the crown prince's automatic weapons. But he did not take questions. Report Of Few Facts The six-page, single-spaced synopsis is a hurriedly assembled document that would hardly satisfy an American audience schooled in police dramas. There were no lab reports, no toxicology details, no ballistics results and no autopsies. An ``unnamed black substance'' that the report said was mixed with the hashish in the prince's cigarettes remains unidentified. And while the crown prince is undeniably dead, the report includes no determination on whether he ended his shooting rampage with a suicide. Even the Nepalese are likely to doubt what they heard. ``I don't believe even 10 percent of it,'' said Saroz Pant, an electrician. ``It's the same bull we heard last week. Why should we believe it this week?'' Last week, riots broke out in Katmandu, capital of this impoverished nation of 23 million people. The public had loved King Birendra, but they did not want to believe that Dipendra, also well-liked, was the shooter. They complained that Nepal was the victim of a conspiracy, and the list of favored conspirators included the new king, Gyanendra, Birendra's brother. Thursday night, as the broadcast ended, the streets were quiet. A seasonal downpour and a huge police presence helped explain why. ``You can bet there will be more trouble,'' a taxi driver, Amar Gurun, predicted. But first, people will have to weigh the plausibility of the latest disclosures. A loose narrative can be assembled from the committee's report, which is largely stitched together from interviews with witnesses. It goes like this: The royal family had a regular monthly gathering. On June 1, the dinner was to be at Dipendra's residence in the palace compound. The crown prince, 29, who had apparently argued with his parents about whether he could marry Rana, arrived first and played billiards while drinking ``one or two pegs of Famous Grouse whiskey neat.'' He also ordered an aide to fetch him some of the drugged cigarettes. Prince Unable To Stand After a while, Dipendra found it hard ``to hold himself upright.'' Four guests, including the crown prince's brother Nirajan and his cousin Paras, took him, swaying, to his bedroom before the king arrived at the party. In his bedroom, Dipendra began phoning Rana, who has since left Katmandu and was interviewed for the committee by the Nepalese ambassador to India. The young woman admitted to a ``close relationship'' with Dipendra but considered it a personal matter and refused to discuss it further. According to phone records, Rana and the crown prince briefly spoke three times within 29 minutes. His speech was slurred, enough so that she phoned one of his aides to check on him. In the bedroom, Dipendra was found on the ground, trying to undo his clothes. Later, retching noises were heard from the bathroom. His final call to Rana lasted only 32 seconds. By her account, he said he was going to sleep and told her good night. Soon after, rather than sleeping, the crown prince began shooting. The king took the first volley from a submachine gun. Then the prince changed weapons and ``fired rat-tat-tat again at His Majesty.'' From there, Dipendra selected other targets, moving from the billiard hall to the dining room to the garden, methodically shooting his brother, sister, aunts and other relatives. Some aides burst into the billiard room by breaking a glass door, but the report says little about them except that they tried to rescue the wounded. In all, 10 members of the royal family died. Dipendra was found unconscious, wearing black army boots, a camouflage army jacket and trousers, black leather gloves, black stockings and a camouflage vest. He was the ninth of the royal victims to perish, dying on the afternoon of June 4, about 40 hours after he himself became king in an automatic line of succession. His soul, presumed to be restless after death, was freed Thursday morning from earthly attachments in a Hindu ceremony. The special rite, reserved for kings, was performed in Nepal for only the fifth time in 90 years -- but it was also the second such observance in four days. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe