Kathmandu, Aug 7 - In an incredible turn of events eight years after the stunning massacre of Nepal's King Birendra and his entire family, a 59-year-old Nepali has surfaced in the capital, claiming to have plotted the assassination in a bid to save the nation.

Tul Prasad Sherchan, who claims to have been groomed from the age of five years to head the covert operations of Nepal's Royal Bureau of Intelligence - akin to American agency CIA and India's RAW, created a sensation Wednesday when he walked into Nepal's best known media club and said he had planned the killings in 1975.

While the claim was greeted with disbelief as well as derision, police, however, moved swiftly, arresting him near midnight Thursday while he was heading towards his 'shelter'.

Minutes before his arrest, Sherchan gave an exclusive interview to IANS, detailing his background and motive.

It is an incredible story that lays the blame on the slain royal family's 'greed' and tendency to 'suck the nation dry' by siphoning off all the foreign aid Nepal received from donors.

'I went to London in 1973 for intelligence training,' Sherchan told IANS.

'At that time, Birendra's younger brother Dhirendra and his wife Prekshya were in London. I met the prince and warned him that if the royal family did not mend its ways, it would be eliminated.'

According to Sherchan, Dhirendra - who too was slain in the carnage in the Narayanhity royal palace June 1, 2001 - promised to convey the warning to his elder brothers but the palace dismissed it and instead, tried to muzzle Sherchan when he returned to Nepal.

The royal family, who were also omnipotent at that time, implicated him in a graft charge and got him imprisoned in Kathmandu Valley's Nakhu Jail for 40 months, he claimed.

It was during his stint behind bars that the massacre occurred.

'On June 1, 2001, I told seven people - including the jailor and jailed (former) Maoist leader Matrika Prasad Yadav that by 9 p.m. that day, the royal family would be eliminated,' Sherchan said.

The self-admitted assassin said he, however, decided to spare Birendra's second brother Gyanendra, who went on to become the next king.

'Our other goal was to retrieve the money the royals had stashed away in banks abroad,' he claimed. 'That would not have been possible without any survivor.'

Sherchan said he chose Gyanendra because the latter would be easy to deal with.