Passenger depicted as hijacker demands apology

KATHMANDU (NNI): The passenger described by Indian media as one of the hijackers denounced the baseless reports about him on his return here Saturday.

On arriving at the Tribhuvan International Airport, Gajendraman Tamrakar issued a statement, urging ZEE news net to accept its mistake and apologize immediately. Some Indian communications media, especially ZEE news had depicted Tamrakar as one of the five hijackers.

Stating that he was very concerned to hear of the pain caused to his family, friends and the country due to the false reports, Tamrakar also expressed gratitude to all those expressing concern and sympathy towards him.

The Indian airlines IC-814 aircraft was hijacked to Kandahar of Afghanistan on its way from Kathmandu to New Delhi by unidentified people on December 24, 1999. About 160 hostages on board the plane were released on December 31 after 8 days of negotiations between the hijackers and the Indian government.