A Nepali panel investigating the shooting and killing of pro-democracy protesters in April has held King Gyanendra responsible for the bloody crackdown, media reports said on Wednesday.
At least 22 people were killed and more than 5,000 wounded in the actions of security forces against anti-king demonstrators who forced the monarch to relinquish absolute power and restore democracy.
"Since he (the king) was the chairman of the council of ministers, we found him responsible for all the decisions taken by the cabinet," The Himalayan Times quoted an unnamed source in the inquiry panel as saying.
The panel is headed by Krishna Jung Rayamajhi, a retired Supreme Court judge, and was appointed by multi-party government that took power in May. It is due to submit its report to the government on Friday.
Rayamajhi declined to comment on the newspaper article, saying the commission had not finalised its report.
"Until it is signed by the commission members you can't say it is final. There can be changes," Rayamajhi told Reuters.
It was not immediately clear what action, if any, would be recommended against the king.
Last month, he failed to reply to questions from the panel on charges of ordering the crackdown.
The panel's probing of the virtually powerless monarch is the first time an inquiry has questioned the king in Nepal which has traditionally considered the monarch as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, one of the trinity of Hindu gods.
Nearly 300 people have been interrogated by the panel.
These included senior ministers in the king's former royalist cabinet and several senior officials, who have been found guilty for their role in the crackdown besides human rights abuses and for misuse of public funds, The Kathmandu Post daily said.
The pro-democracy supporters were backed by Maoist rebels, who plan to sign a comprehensive peace accord with the multi-party administration on Thursday and join a new interim government in the impoverished Himalayan nation by December 1.