Nepal’s Inquiry Concludes

Before he gunned down his parents and seven other people at a dinner party, Nepal’s crown prince--drunk on scotch and high on hashish--told his girlfriend by phone that he was going to sleep, investigators into Nepal’s royal massacre said in a report issued Thursday.

Trying to explain the bloodshed to a skeptical public, investigators said 29-year-old Crown Prince Dipendra, heir to the throne of the Himalayan kingdom, was solely to blame for the June 1 slayings.

The 200-page report did not say whether Dipendra shot and killed himself, as claimed by witnesses.

Many Nepalese refuse to believe accounts that Dipendra, drunk and angry after a spat with his parents, opened fire at Narayanhiti Palace, killing his parents--King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya--his brother and sister, two aunts, an uncle and two others.

The new King Gyanendra, Birendra’s brother, ordered the investigation. The two investigators, Supreme Court Chief Justice Keshav Prasad Upadhaya and House Speaker Taranath Ranabhat, announced their findings after interviewing more than 100 people, including witnesses, palace employees, forensic experts and others.

The panel did not mention a motive for the killings. Palace sources have said Dipendra and his parents had argued earlier over Devyani Rana, the woman he wanted to marry. The sources said his parents told Dipendra that if he married Rana, his brother would replace him as heir to the throne.

Investigators said Dipendra spoke to Rana three times by cell phone before the shootings.

Ranabhat told a news conference that Dipendra came to the royal gathering at 7:30 p.m. and played billiards while drinking his favorite whiskey. He then asked an aide to bring him cigarettes laced with hashish.

An inebriated Dipendra was taken to his room by four relatives. He then called Rana, Ranabhat said. Rana called Dipendra’s aides and told them that he was slurring his speech and was probably sick.

The aides found the prince sprawled on the floor of his room. They took him to a bathroom, where they heard him vomiting. He ordered them to leave, Ranabhat said.

Dipendra and Rana spoke twice more by phone. “I am now about to sleep. Good night, we will talk tomorrow,” Rana recounted the prince saying in his final conversation with her, according to investigators.