Nepalese army major who fled Quantico apprehended

Federal authorities have captured a Nepalese army major who fled with his two children from the Quantico Marine Corps Base last year after he was accused of severely beating his wife.

Federal agents arrested Maj. Govinda Shahi without incident at a residence near Baltimore in Parkville, Md., according to Naval Criminal Investigative Service spokesman Paul O'Donnell.

Shahi was arrested and has been ordered detained pending trial in federal court in Alexandria. His arraignment is set for Sept. 10.

Authorities said Shahi was arrested on assault charges on Dec. 7, while attending a nine-month program at the Marines' Expeditionary Warfare School in Quantico. He was released from custody, and that night he disappeared with his two children.

The two children were later dropped off in Baltimore unharmed and were reunited with their mother with the assistance of child protective services, O'Donnell said.

Shahi had spent about six weeks at the warfare school when military police were called to Shahi's residence on the Quantico base to respond to domestic violence complaints, according to court documents.

His wife told NCIS investigators that, for the past month, Shahi had been beating her with his fists, feet and a stick.

She was taken to an area hospital, where doctors found a ruptured spleen, multiple bruises and a partially healed broken nose and ankle, according to court records.

Her damaged spleen had resulted in significant blood loss and she required a blood transfusion. The foot injury came when Shahi had stomped it with his military boot, court documents say.

After his arrest, Shahi was released to his military unit representative and was ordered to return to work the next morning.

That night, a neighbor called military police saying Shahi had just packed his children, then ages 10 and 5, into his car and had driven away.

Shahi did not report to work the next day, and authorities began searching for him until they found him last August.

A federal grand jury indicted Shahi in March.

He was dropped from the Marine training program in December, said 1st Lt. Brian Villiard, a Quantico spokesman.