Suspicious death in Nepal subject of film
Wed, September 10 2008
A death 15 years ago that was as controversial as the massacre of the Nepal royal family in the palace in Kathmandu and is believed by many to have had an equal effect on shaping the destiny of the nation will be resurrected as a maverick filmmaker seeks to solve the “conspiracy” behind it.
Nepali film director Manoj Pundit, 29, whose earlier documentary on Nepal’s boundary disputes with India created widespread controversy, is poised for more turmoil as he has begun shooting his account of how Madan Kumar Bhandari, one of Nepal’s most promising and influential political leaders, died in 1993.
Bhandari, a top leader of Nepal’s communist movement, became general secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) in 1991 and was thought to be headed for a much greater role when his promising political career was cut short just two years later.
The 41-year-old was travelling from central Nepal to the south when his car plunged off the road into a river at a village called Dasdhunga.
While both Bhandari and his travelling companion, senior party member Jeev Raj Ashrit, were killed, driver Amar Lama survived. There were no other eyewitnesses.
Ten years later, Lama was abducted from Kathmandu and taken to Kirtipur town where he was shot dead, execution-fashion, in full view of bystanders.
The murder revived the memory of Bhandari’s death and fuelled suspicion that he was actually killed as part of a political conspiracy.
Pundit is seeking to unravel the mystery of the Dasdhunga crash in his upcoming film, also called Dasdhunga.
“I was 14 when Bhandari died,” he says. “I remember how the crash gripped the entire nation. My father would discuss it feverishly with his friends. People suspected it was not a mere accident but something more sinister.”
Two years ago, Pundit travelled to London where he came across a man who had begun investigating the crash on his own.
“But the investigator was never allowed to publish his findings,” Pundit says, declining to name the man. “In fact, he was hounded out of Kathmandu and forced to go into exile.
Pundit says he also met the gunmen who killed Lama.
Nepali film director Manoj Pundit, 29, whose earlier documentary on Nepal’s boundary disputes with India created widespread controversy, is poised for more turmoil as he has begun shooting his account of how Madan Kumar Bhandari, one of Nepal’s most promising and influential political leaders, died in 1993.
Bhandari, a top leader of Nepal’s communist movement, became general secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) in 1991 and was thought to be headed for a much greater role when his promising political career was cut short just two years later.
The 41-year-old was travelling from central Nepal to the south when his car plunged off the road into a river at a village called Dasdhunga.
While both Bhandari and his travelling companion, senior party member Jeev Raj Ashrit, were killed, driver Amar Lama survived. There were no other eyewitnesses.
Ten years later, Lama was abducted from Kathmandu and taken to Kirtipur town where he was shot dead, execution-fashion, in full view of bystanders.
The murder revived the memory of Bhandari’s death and fuelled suspicion that he was actually killed as part of a political conspiracy.
Pundit is seeking to unravel the mystery of the Dasdhunga crash in his upcoming film, also called Dasdhunga.
“I was 14 when Bhandari died,” he says. “I remember how the crash gripped the entire nation. My father would discuss it feverishly with his friends. People suspected it was not a mere accident but something more sinister.”
Two years ago, Pundit travelled to London where he came across a man who had begun investigating the crash on his own.
“But the investigator was never allowed to publish his findings,” Pundit says, declining to name the man. “In fact, he was hounded out of Kathmandu and forced to go into exile.
Pundit says he also met the gunmen who killed Lama.
