The grand halls of Narayanhiti Palace, the home to Nepal's royal family, witnessed a bloodbath on the night of June 1, 2001. King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, Queen Aishwarya, their children, and several close royal aides were massacred by one of their own.
For decades, King Birendra had been celebrated as a modernising monarch and revered by his people. That night, only a few at the palace, somehow, survived the carnage.
The Family Dinner
More than 20 members of Nepal's royal family and elite gathered for dinner at the Tribhuvan Sadan dining hall. According to Suraj Shamsher Rana, Crown Prince Dipendra's uncle, the crown prince, who was 29 and educated at Eton, had been drinking heavily. He had been in a long-standing dispute with his mother, Queen Aishwarya, over his relationship with Devyani Rana, 22, the daughter of a prominent politician. The queen opposed the match.
Rana said Dipendra began “misbehaving” with a guest during the dinner. King Birendra, upset by his son's actions, sent him to his room upstairs. “Two cousins led the prince upstairs to the first floor, where he had a lavish apartment, and tried to calm him down,” Rana said, as per The Guardian.
About 30 minutes later, Dipendra returned dressed in army fatigues, carrying a Uzi, an M16 assault rifle, and a pistol.
The Shooting
As the prince entered the room where the king and queen were seated, he fired two shots at the ceiling and then shot King Birendra. “The king slid from his chair and collapsed on the floor. One report said doctors had found 10 bullet holes in his body,” Rana said.
Guests ran for cover. Prince Nirajan, Dipendra's younger brother, stepped in to stop him. “Don't do it, please. Kill me if you want,” Nirajan said. He was shot at least 17 times. Dipendra then killed Queen Aishwarya. The king's youngest brother, Dhirendra, tried to intervene. “You have done enough damage; hand over the gun now,” he told Dipendra. He was also shot and later died.
By the end of the attack, King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya, Prince Nirajan, Princess Shruti, two of the king's sisters, and other relatives were dead.
Dipendra shot himself on a footbridge over a garden stream and was taken to the hospital. He was declared king while unconscious and died three days later.
Survivor Accounts
Rajiv Shahi, son-in-law of King Birendra's youngest brother, described to The New York Times what he saw. “About 9 pm, I heard a burst of gunfire. I thought it was somebody playing a prank. There was shouting and I heard someone say ‘His Majesty has been shot.' Being a doctor, I ran toward His Majesty. I took off my coat and pressed it against his neck where he was bleeding. He said, ‘I have been shot in the stomach also.' I told him not to worry as stopping the bleeding was more vital at that time,” Shahi said.
He described Crown Prince Dipendra as “really drunk” when he arrived at the dinner. The prince began to “stammer and quarrel.”
“He went wild and started shooting whoever came in front of him,” Shahi said. The killing spree lasted only “a minute, a minute and a half.”
Aftermath
Several palace staff and relatives were injured but survived. Dipendra's girlfriend, Devyani Rana, left Nepal and was believed to have gone into hiding in India. The palace was guarded by soldiers, but immediate police investigations were restricted. According to Nepal's Jana Aastha newspaper, officers were prevented from taking statements and doctors were forbidden to conduct postmortem examinations.
In the days following the massacre, Nepal experienced unrest. Police imposed curfews in Kathmandu to maintain order. Thousands of citizens knelt to pray outside the palace gates.
Kishor Shrestha, editor of a local newspaper, said, “I can't believe the crown prince did this of his own accord. There must have been someone to inspire him or provoke him to do such a thing. How can a prince shoot his own family?”
Following Dipendra's death, his uncle, King Gyanendra, ascended the throne.
