Paras returns to Nepal amid fake currency 'link' reports

KATHMANDU: It has been a tumultuous homecoming for Nepal’s self-exiled former crown prince Paras, who returned home to Kathmandu Monday to find
himself in the thick of reports in the Indian media claiming he was part of a fake currency
racket run by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

The 38-year-old, who was originally expected to arrive in Kathmandu Friday, however returned to Nepal Monday amidst fast-flying allegations in India that three people, arrested in India with fake Indian currency, had disclosed links with Nepal’s former royal family.

However, the ponytailed former prince kept a low profile with the Nepali media ignoring his return as it had ignored his departure. The tabloids however have been speculating on the reason for his frequent trips to Nepal since his exit in high dudgeon last year after monarchy was formally abolished and his father, deposed king Gyanendra, was ordered to vacate the royal palace. Since Nepal became a republic last year, Paras has been living in Singapore, where he claims to be doing his own grocery shopping and cooking and thriving on it.

There have been reports of marital discord between Paras, known to be headstrong with a violent temper and fondness for partying, drinks and women and his wife, the former crown princess Himani. Though she had followed him to Singapore with their three children and enrolled them in schools there, she had returned to Kathmandu with the children after some time. Paras claims to be keen on founding a political party in Nepal and contesting elections.

While there was no immediate reaction from the former royals to the reports in the Indian media , Gyanendra’s aides however expressed outrage, calling them baseless propaganda. Royalists said that in the past too, Nepal’s royal family had been wrongly blamed for trouble in India, including the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, which, India's Research and Analysis Wing had said could have been funded by the then Nepali queen Aishwarya.