Mystery Woman Holds Key To Motive

With the focus on Nepal's royal family massacre switching from"who?" to "why?", the hunt is on again for the womanallegedly behind the motive for the dramatic murders.

In a classic case of "cherchez la femme," the spotlight hasbeen turned up on Devyani Rana, the young woman who had reportedly captured theheart of crown prince Dipendra and fled Nepal the day after the June 1 killingsat the royal palace.

Emerging eyewitness accounts have confirmed the original reports thatdipendra gunned down his father king Birendra and eight other royals beforeshooting himself, but have been unable to clarify the motive.

There has been speculation that the bloodbath was triggered by an argumentbetween the crown prince and his mother, queen Aishwarya, who was adamantlyopposed to his plans to marry Rana.

But the son-in-law of slain king Birendra's youngest brother Dhirendra, wasunable to confirm the reports of a family row yesterday when he gave the firstdirect eyewitness account of the killings.

"What motivated him to do this I'm not sure," said Rajiv Shahi, whoadded only that the crown prince was "very intoxicated" when hecarried out the killings.

The fact that little is known about Devyani Rana, who is in her 20s, has onlyadded to her allure as the mysterious woman at the centre of a tragedy.

Her father, former Nepalese foreign and finance minister Pashupati Rana, isdescended from the Rana clan, the once powerful nobility which established aline of hereditary prime ministers in Nepal.

Members of Nepal's royal Shah dynasty, including king Birendra and his twobrothers, usually choose a spouse from the Rana line to ensure politicalharmony.

According to this tradition, Dipendra, 29, and Devyani ought to have been aperfect match and made no secret of their relationship. They were often seensharing a pizza at a restaurant near the palace in Kathmandu.

Rana was reported to have been initially reluctant to marry the crown prince,although she later fell in love with him and agreed to the wedding.

But the queen was opposed to the match and the king supposedly threatened topass Dipendra over in the royal succession unless he bowed to his mother'swishes.

One possible reason for the queen's antagonism towards Rana might have beenher powerful Indian connections - with uncle Madhav Rao Scindia being anex-minister and aunt Vijayeraje, a minister of state in the NDA government.Anti-indian sentiment has long simmered close to the surface in Nepal andsometimes boils over into violent protest.

Rana was educated at an exclusive Indian boarding school and graduated ineconomics from a New Delhi college. According to newspaper reports, Rana fled Kathmandufor New Delhi the day after the massacre.

She was then reported to have flown to either London or Moscow, where she hasa sister.