Koirala threatens to expose 'design' behind Nepali royal massacre

Former prime minister of Nepal Girija Prasad Koirala has threatened to expose what he said was a 'grand design' behind the 2001 massacre which left 10 members of the royal family dead, a report said Thursday.

"I deliberately choose to keep shut but I will expose everything at an opportune time," he was quoted as saying by the Kathmandu Post at a public meeting in the southeastern town of Janakpur Wednesday.

"The time is not far away," he added.

King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya and seven other royals were gunned down on June 1 2001.

An official investigation found that a drunk Crown Prince Dipendra had carried out the shootings, before killing himself.

The massacre shocked the world and was seen as a calamity by the people of the Himalayan kingdom, many of whom revere the king as an incarnation of the Hindu god Lord Vishnu.

When Birendra's brother Gyanendra took over the throne shortly afterwards people protested on the streets.

Koirala said he had been keeping quiet over the issue fearing that it would trigger fresh unrest, according to the Kathmandu Post.

Koirala also criticised Gyanendra, who in October sacked the elected prime minister who had dissolved parliament to hold mid-term elections. The king then installed an interim government and indefinitely postponed the polls.

"The king still has the chance to make a correction to the constitutional process by reviving the parliament," Koirala told the meeting.

"The constitution of Nepal stipulates that elections must be conducted within six months of the dissolution of parliament, and it goes without saying that the dissolution is subject to either timely elections or restoration of the House of Representatives," he said.