When Nepal PM Sushila Karki's husband was involved in plane hijack in 1973
The hijack of Royal Nepal Airlines, which took off from Biratnagar to Kathmandu with 15 passengers on board, was the first plane to be hijacked in Nepal.
Sushila Karki, Nepal’s former chief justice, took oath as the first woman prime minister, days after KP Sharma Oli resigned amid a massive unrest leading to a political turmoil.
The name of the Nepal's first female chief justice, who served between July 2016 to June 2017, was reportedly finalised during a meeting of the Gen Z movement on Wednesday.
Sushila Karki earned a reputation for her strong stance against corruption and commitment to judicial independence. The first woman prime minister of Nepal also has an India connection as she studied law at the Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi. She also met her future husband, Durga Prasad Subedi, during her study in India.
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Kari's husband Subedi was once part of a plane hijacking over fifty years ago. Subedi, then a youth leader of the Nepali Congress, led the plane hijack along with two others on June 10, 1973.
All about the 1973 plane hijack
The hijack of Royal Nepal Airlines, which took off from Biratnagar to Kathmandu with 15 passengers on board, was the first plane to be hijacked in Nepal.
The plane also had famous Bollywood actor Mala Sinha was on board, according to a report in NDTV.
Subedia led a three-member team alongside Nagendra Dhungel and Basanta Bhattarai to hijack the plane to raise funds for an "armed struggle" against the monarchy under King Mahendra.
The motive behind the hijack was to gather funds for an armed revolution to restore multi-party democracy by overthrowing the monarchy headed by King Mahendra of Nepal. The operation was said to have been allegedly masterminded by Girija Prasad Koirala, who went on to become the Nepal Prime Minister.
Subedia also detailed the hijack in his memoir ‘Biman Bidroha’ where he also talked about the history of Nepali Congress and the movement against the country's monarchy.
How was the plane hijacked?
According to a 1973 report in The New York Times, three armed men hijacked the twin-engine plane from across the Indian border and escaped with around $400,000.
"The men got in as passengers and when the plane took off they showed the pilot a gun and said they wanted to go to Forbesganj," The New York Times quoted an official as saying.
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The hijackers had forced the pilot mid-flight to land the plan in Forbesganj area of Bihar, where five other conspirators were waiting.
"The embassy spokesman said that the hijackers did not appear to be politically motivated. He said that the piracy appeared to be the work of “Nepali nationals who knew about the money", the report quoted as saying.
According to a report in Reuters, former Nepal PM Sushil Koirala was among those waiting for the money. He reportedly spent three years in jail for his role in the hijacking.
The plane then took off again with the remaining passengers unharmed and the money was transported to Darjeeling in West Bengal, according to Moneycontrol.
