Singh committee sworn in

Kathmandu,Dec 19-The High Level Judicial Probe Commission formed to look into the Nagarkot incident headed by former justice of the Supreme Court Top Bahadur Singh started its work from Sunday.Chief Justice Dilip Kumar Poudel administered the oath of office and secrecy to former Supreme Court Justice Top Bahadur Singh, the head of the judicial investigation committee formed to probe the Nagarkot incident in which 12 civilians were mowed down by a frenzied army man on Wednesday night.

After being sworn in, Singh administered the oath of office and secrecy to two other members of the committee, former Attorney General Prem Bahadur Bista and Deputy Attorney General Drona Raj Regmi The probe committee, which was formed on Thursday, has been given five days to submit its report to the government.The Judicial Committee visited the Birendra Army Hospital, Chhauni, and talked to 16 of those injured in Thursday's incident that had claimed the lives of 12 civilians and a solider of the Royal Nepalese Army.

They said that they would continue with the interrogation of the injured sometime later.
The committee would conduct a judicial investigation and would try to establish whether the incident was an outcome of loss of temper or a bias feeling towards the locals, he said.
The committee is planning to move out to the incident site Tuesday after setting up its office and verifying the facts that have been made public so far, Singh said.

Singh said that though the high level commission had been given five days to complete all the investigations on the incident, he had requested the concerned authorities to extend the time period.