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Nepali not involved: Intelligence agencies

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

Intelligence agencies have denied that Gajendra Man Tamarkar, the Nepalese citizen who was alleged by a section of the media as one of the hijackers, had any role in the entire crisis.

Speaking informally to rediff.com on Saturday morning, a senior intelligence official said the information gathered till now has "not thrown up any indication of his involvement." Tamarkar disembarked at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Friday night along with the other passengers.

The official said the intelligence agencies would meet Tamarkar for "routine enquiries". But then any of the passengers could be contacted, he added. "It was the media which made him the hijacker. Since the media was taking on everything, we decided to keep quiet," he said.

Dr Anita Joshi, a pathologist on board Flight 814, told rediff.com that Tamarkar, "was there all through out, but we never thought he was one of the hijackers." She attended to Satnam Singh, who was attacked by hijackers, and other passengers who were unwell through their eight-day ordeal.

On Thursday, the Nepal government had angrily denied that one of its citizens was involved in the hijack. That evening, the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) held demonstrations against the Zee News television channel in Kathmandu on Thursday for alleging that a Nepali citizen was involved in the hijacking.

NIGHTMARE ON FLIGHT 814
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