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On June 1, 2001, Nepal’s Crown Prince Dipendra went on a shooting rampage, wiping out much of the Nepalese royal family. Then he shot himself in the head. Allegedly. He was crowned king while in a coma only because he was next in line for the throne. He was only king for three days though, because the wound proved fatal.
--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: June 1, 2001--
This tale is full of “Who the fuck knows?” There was a formal gathering of the royal family at Narayanhiti Palace. For some reason, there wasn’t much in the way of security for the event. Also, Dipendra’s uncle, Prince Gyanendra, was conveniently absent.
Dipendra, who was 29, showed up with a rifle, a submachine gun, a shotgun, and a pistol. He murdered his parents, who were the king and queen of Nepal, and seven other members of the royal family, including his younger brother and sister. Five others were injured in the massacre. Dipendra then shot himself in the head. Again, allegedly.
Why the fuck?
No one really knows, and no one tried that hard to find out. Some said Dipendra was pissed about a popular uprising 11 years earlier that saw a loss of royal power as the nation transformed from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional one, while others said no fuck that he was in favor of the reforms. Another rumor says he was pissed about not getting to marry the woman he wanted because his family said she wasn’t royal enough, and her wealthy family said his family wasn’t rich enough.
Witnesses said that before committing mass murder, Dipendra had a few drinks and smoked some pot. The devil’s lettuce strikes again! One of the survivors said the look on Dipendra’s face was horrifying in how expressionless it was. “He looked exactly like the Terminator 2,” she said.
This is where it gets more fucky. Uncle Gyanendra, who was brother to the king, definitely did not like the move to a constitutional monarchy. He said the country was going to the dogs. It’s rumored that he spoke poison into his nephew’s ear and convinced him to go on a killing spree. Also fucky is that the wound to Dipendra’s head was in his left temple, yet Dipendra was right-handed. Add to this a final bit of fucky in that the investigation lasted only a week and focused solely on what happened with no questions as to why. There wasn’t any forensic analysis either.
Oh, did I mention that after Dipendra died in hospital that Gyanendra became king? That’s important. Also important is that he was the one who appointed the team who conducted the investigation into the massacre. Hmmm . . .
Gyanendra tried to get things back to the “good old days” of being a dictator, but that didn’t go over so well, and the Nepalese monarchy was abolished in 2008. Don’t worry about Gyanendra, though. He’s still rich as fuck.
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