King Birendra has asked the government to furnish details on the accident that killed singer-musician Praveen Gurung. Palace officials wrote to the leader of a communist students group protesting the alleged hit-and-run by Paras Shah, the monarch's nephew, informing him of the development. The King was responding to a petition signed by over 500,000 people asking him to punish his nephew who is believed to have been at the wheel of the vehicle that hit Gurung on 6 August.