Kathmandu [Nepal], November 4 : An emergency cabinet meeting held on Wednesday has changed the Chief of the Nepal Police, replacing Dan Bahadur Karki with Manoj Kumar KC after slews of leaks and controversies.
In a departure from established practice, Home Minister Sudan Gurung conferred the rank insignia on the newly appointed Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr Manoj Kumar KC, for the first time in three decades.
On Wednesday, Gurung formally decorated KC with the IGP rank insignia following his appointment as the chief of Nepal Police. Previously, the Home Secretary had been performing the ceremonial duty of conferring the rank insignia on newly appointed police chiefs.
The government appointed KC as the new IGP on Wednesday, replacing Dan Bahadur Karki. An emergency meeting of the Council of Ministers decided to remove Karki from the police leadership and appoint KC, who was previously serving as chief of the Criminal Investigation Department.
The cabinet meeting, which was held after a gap of over a week, removed Inspector General Karki and made him security adviser to the prime minister. The move comes in the wake of Karki’s handling of the Inam Sapkota investigation, his resistance to orders for immediate arrests, and a long-standing wish in Balendra Shah’s camp to see AIG Manoj KC lead the force.
When asked about the reason to remove Karki from the post, government spokesperson Sasmit Pokharel said nothing about any dissatisfaction with Karki. He said only that a new post had been created and that, for Karki, it was only a change of responsibility.
Prime Minister Balendra Shah, however, wanted Karki out at a regular Cabinet meeting last Thursday, officials say. He raised the matter a day earlier in a discussion with Rabi Lamichhane, chair of the ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party.
The main reason then was Karki’s alleged “nexus” with Inam Sapkota, a fixer in police custody on charges of money laundering and banking offences. But on the day Karki was to be removed, WhatsApp chats between Supreme Court Justice Hari Phuyal and Sapkota were leaked.
Then it emerged that Kumar Byanjankar, the prime minister’s political adviser popularly known as Kumar Ben, had kept Sapkota’s mobile phone for two days. Government officials say this angered the government further, and it called an emergency Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Relations between Karki and the prime minister’s secretariat had been growing tense. The rift widened after Karki briefed the prime minister on the conversations between Sapkota and Ben, and warned that the government could be embarrassed if the details became public.