NIMJN INVESTIGATION Reveals Petroleum Products Used to Burn Parliament, Supreme Court and Singha Durbar
An investigation by the Nepal Investigative Multimedia Journalism Network (NIMJN) has revealed that petroleum products were used to ignite these structures.
The Supreme Court after the arson on September 9. Photo: Barsha Shah/NIMJN
Forensic testing has confirmed that petroleum products were used to burn the Parliament Building, the Supreme Court, Singha Durbar – the country’s main administrative hub – and the President’s Office during the Gen-Z movement on September 8 and 9.
Following the deaths of 19 people, including 17 outside the Parliament Building, during the Gen-Z protests on September 8, violent demonstrations broke out across the country on September 9 in protest.
Petroleum residues were discovered in 16 samples collected from the buildings burned during those protests after being tested at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory under India’s Ministry of Home Affairs. “Residues of petroleum products (petroleum hydrocarbons) were found in the samples,” the report states. One liquid sample sent for testing was explicitly identified as petrol in the forensic report.
Although the Government of Nepal coordinated with the Indian government to conduct these sample tests, the report has not been made public. The commission investigating the events of September 8 and 9 submitted its findings to the government without including the forensic test results.
“We were informed that samples had been sent for testing but the report was not provided to us,” Commission Spokesperson Bigyan Raj Sharma told NIMJN. “We have recommended establishing laboratories in Nepal to test such samples in the future.”
In fact, the report had reached the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through India’s Ministry of Home Affairs on February 9, a month before the commission submitted its findings. NIMJN’s investigation shows that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs forwarded the report to the Ministry of Home Affairs on February 12. The forensic laboratory had begun testing on January 17 and finalized the report by January 30.
Read the Full Investigation in English Here.
Read the same story in Nepali.
Nepal Election:
Nepal’s Election Commission released its final report, showing Balen’s Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) won 182 of 275 seats in parliament, just two seats shy of a two-thirds supermajority.
Running head-to-head against former premier KP Sharma Oli in the constituency of Jhapa-5, Balen beat him by nearly 50,000 votes. Balen received 68,348 votes while Oli got 18,734.
The former prime minister’s Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) won 25 seats in parliament. Meanwhile, Nepali Congress won 38 seats, Nepali Communist Party won 17 seats, Shram Sanstrikti Party won 7 seats, Rastriya Prajatantra Party won 5 seats, and an independent candidate won one seat.
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