Nepalgunj, September 30

Twelve years after Nepalgunj-based gold trader Dipak Hemkar and his family were murdered, District Police Office, Banke, has arrested the main accused Kishorilal Soni.

A police team nabbed Soni from the Nepal-India border point Jamunaha last night, said Banke SP Arun Poudel. Soni is Dipak’s father-in-law. Soni had killed five people including Dipak over a financial dispute. Soni was made public on the premises of Banke district police office today.

Dipak Hemkar, 32, Gulabdevi Hemkar, 82, Jagdev Hemkar, 62, Sitadevi Hemkar, 45, and worker Ramshanichhar Chaudhary  were murdered on 7 March  2006.

After their murder, gold and silver worth Rs 2.9 million was also looted. Hemkar was running Deep Jewelers from his home at Sadarline Road in Nepalgunj. In the wake of the incident, Police headquarters had sent a special police team to Nepalgunj to investigate the incident. However, the team had failed to book the guilty.

Banke police arrested Soni, 60, of Bisawa Bazaar of Sitapur district from Uttar Pradesh, India. He was living in Sitapur Priyadarshani Colony Road of Lucknow. Though Soni was blacklisted by Nepal police, he was at large. SP Poudel said Soni was arrested on the basis of a tip off. After the incident, Dipak’s wife left Nepalgunj citing security reasons. She is living in her parental home in India.