In what appears like another fake encounter, Kumar Ghaite, dubbed by police as an absconding gangster, has been shot dead in Kapurdhara, Kathmandu on Thursday.
Ghaite's two aides have also been injured in the shootout. They have been rushed to the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. The hospital sources said Ghaite was pronounced dead before he was rushed there.
SP Sarbendra Khanal has claimed that Ghaite first opened fire at police during a surprise security check near his house and was killed in retaliation. Details of the encounter are yet to come.
Although police had placed Ghaite's name in their list of most wanted criminals, Ghaite was close to the ruling Nepali Congress and had been openly running several businesses in Kathmandu. It is learned that Ghaite knew police were intending to kill him in an encounter and had even approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) fearing for his life.
Last year, police had killed another gangster Dinesh 'Chari' in what was believed to be a well-designed fake encounter. Chari was close to the CPN (UML).