Nepal's underground Maoist party said the finding that former Crown Prince Dipendra gunned down most of the royal family in a drunken rampage was the result of a conspiracy, it was reported Sunday.
"The report prepared by the investigation committee formed to probe the royal palace massacre is the outcome of a conspiracy," Maoist leader Prachand (eds: one name) said in the Nepali-language Naya Sadak daily.
"It would not have been possible for the commission to find out the real truth even if it wanted to after the destruction of all evidences leading to the deaths," he said.
The report, drawn up after an inquiry by a two-person commission and made public on Thursday, said that Dipendra had been drunk and high on drugs when he gunned down his parents and seven other people on June 1 before shooting himself. It also found that he had used an array of weapons.
Prachand asked how the prince could aim and hit his targets if he had been intoxicated.
"It is known to all now that it is a grave conspiracy because the palace guards and army had remained silent during the incident," he added.
The leader repeated calls for left-wing parties to join forces to form an interim government.
The Maoists, who have been fighting since 1996 to overthrow the constitutional monarchy, have already refuted eyewitness accounts of how Dipendra carried out the massacre. The royal died in hospital on June 4, two days after being named king. The new king is his uncle, Gyanendra -- KATHMANDU (AFP)
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