Another hurdle in Ranjan case: SIM card details
After Geeta’s husband DIG Ranjan Koirala of the Armed Police Force, who earlier confessed to have murdered her, retracted his earlier statement demanding a probe into the Indian SIM cards found at his separated wife’s residence, the Kathmandu district court on February 17 asked the police to come up with the details of the SIM cards.
No hearing has taken place in the case as no related documents and evidences have been produced before the court till date. According to DSP Ramesh Basnet, in charge of the complaints desk at the Kathmandu Metropolitan Police Range Hanuman-dhoka, a letter has been issued through Interpol to the Indian police. DSP Basnet said a request for the details of two Indian SIM cards is yet to be answered by the Indian police.
However, Geeta’s family members have attributed this to the police’s “deliberate” inaction. Geeta’s father Harey Ram Dhakal accused the police of “creating space for DIG Koirala and the company to make their move and influence the court verdict”, by delaying the court proceedings.
DSP Basnet, however, refuted Harey Ram’s claims saying that everything is under a process and the delay was unintentional.
Apart from the probe into the SIM cards recovered from Geeta’s Budhanilkantha-based house, DIG Koirala had demanded in his appeal that his signatures on the statements of his confession to have murdered his wife be re-checked at a forensic lab. He had claimed that the signatures on the sworn statement prepared in the presence of police officials and government attorneys were not his.
Abiding by the February 17 court orders, the signatures were sent to the National Academy of Science and Technology, Khumaltar, for forensic examination. The lab reports have been handed over to the court. They are yet to be produced before the judge as the date for hearing has not been fixed.
Kathmandu District Court Registrar Bharat Lamsal said the hearing can’t be scheduled unless the police present a complete report on the details of the SIM cards. Informed sources said the lab report indicated that the signatures were of DIG Koirala.
“It was imprudent on the court’s part to re-issue probe orders when DIG Koirala had already confessed to have murdered my daughter,” said Harey Ram. “All that is going on seems like a game at times. This is weakening the case against Koirala and I fear the scene may change.”
Although a final verdict in the case is due, DIG Koirala is in judicial custody of the Dillibazar prison.
The high-ranking APF officer and his wife Geeta had been living separately for six years following property and personal disputes. Geeta was living in a house in Budhanilkantha with her son. According to the police, Koirala, on January 11, 2012, reached Geeta’s home, saying that he wanted to take his son, who was living with her, out for a trip.
Leaving his son with his driver, Koirala returned to Geeta’s and allegedly murdered her. He then locked the house and went out to make arrangements for disposing of the body. The same night, he went to Tistung-8, Makawanpur, where he burnt the remains with petrol.
On January 21, Koirala was held at the same location by locals who informed the police of his “peculiar” activities there. As he was returning to Kathmandu the next day, a special squad from the Kathmandu Metropolitan Police Range Hanumandhoka and the Metropolitan Police Crime Investigation Division arrested Koirala at Nagdhunga, an entry point to the Capital.
During investigations, Koirala admitted to the crime, but said that the murder was unintentional. “She died after her head hit the wall during a scuffle,” Koirala’s statement read.
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