Nirmala’s father sent to capital for treatment

Dhangadi, November 24

Yagya Raj Panta, father of rape and murder victim 13-year-old Nirmala Panta, was sent to Kathmandu for treatment after he developed mental disorder along with physical illness.

Panta was sent to Kathmandu in a vehicle late at night after Buddha Air refused to let him board citing fit to fly rule.

Kanchanpur Assistant CDO Shankar Bista said doctors had advised to  take Panta to Kathmandu after he developed mental illness. “We had arranged a plane ticket, but the airline refused to let Panta board citing risk,” Bista said. Panta was issued an air  ticket by Kanchanpur DAO. The plane was scheduled to fly at 6:20 pm. Earlier, Panta was sent to Dhangadi in a bus from  Kanchanpur.

Kailali Assistant CDO Janakraj Bhatta said a jeep was hired to send Panta to Kathmandu from Dhangadi after Buddha Air did not let him fly. However, Panta refused to board the jeep. He was then taken to Seti Zonal Hospital where he was sedated and put on a vehicle bound for the capital.

According to Assistant CDO Bhatta, Nirmala’s father, mother and two relatives were sent in the vehicle. Panta’s relative Gangadhar Bhatta, who is accompanying Panta, said he would be treated at TU Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj, Kathmandu.

Panta had been under tremendous stress for the past few months after  his daughter’s body was found in a sugarcane field in Bhimdatta  Municipality. After numerous investigation committees failed to find anything, he and his family had resorted to indefinite sit-in to pile pressure to find the  culprits. The strain of it all took its toll on his physical and mental well-being.

He had developed mental disorder for the past three days. According to his relatives, he shows unusual beahviour. He yells, weeps, scolds and asks authorities to shoot him dead and says, “Or else, I will do it myself.”