Youth held for 10-yr-old’s rape, murder in Pokhara
Pokhara, September 26
Twenty-seven-year-old Kusum Poudel has been arrested for the rape and murder of 10-year-old Shreeya Sunar of Pumdibhumdi, Kaski. He was made public today.
Shreeya left her home to buy biscuits on Monday evening, but never returned. Poudel of Pumdibhumdi has admitted to sexually assaulting the girl and killing her. A father of two, Poudel claimed that he was under the influence when he committed the heinous crime. “I lured her with a 10-rupee note and abused her sexually,” police quoted Poudel as saying.
“When she screamed I pushed her into a bush. I tried to abuse her again. When she cried for help, I strangled her,” police quoted Poudel as saying. He admitted to crushing the unconscious girl’s face and head with a rock before leaving her to die.
Shreeya’s body was found in a bush near her house yesterday morning. While her kin were at the police station seeking police help to find her whereabouts, locals spotted her body in a bush and alerted the police.
Shreeya’s father had left her mother for a second wife while she was very young. The 10-year-old was living at her maternal uncle Krishna Sunar’s home.
The incident occurred while she had gone to buy biscuits with a five-rupee note provided by her grandmother upon her return from school at 5:00 pm on Monday.
Poudel was drunk and was buying a cigarette when he saw Shreeya in the evening. He accosted her, overpowered her and assaulted her before killing her when she shouted for help.
According to Kaski District Police Office chief Superintendent of Police Om Rana, Poudel was arrested with the help of sniffer dogs yesterday.
Today police produced him in Kaski district court and obtained a detention order. He has already pleaded guilty.
Meanwhile, the kin of the murdered girl, along with rights activists and locals picketed the district police office and district administration today, seeking capital punishment for those involved in the rape and murder.
Shreeya’s mother has been in a semi-conscious state since she heard about her daughter’s murder.
Police had sent the body to Pokhara Health Sciences Institute for post-mortem yesterday after letting the locals see the body.
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