Lalitpur, October 14:

Youths of Sainbu and police personnel have started a round-the-clock vigil after anonymous threat calls continued to terrify villagers here. Residents of the village have been feeling insecure after the murder of 8-year-old Dhiraj Adhikari.

“We have started to keep vigil on the village round-the-clock as most of the villagers feel insecure because of frequent anonymous threat calls and movement of unknown faces in the village; especially in the evening,” Sabin KC, a local, said. SP Madhav Prasad Nepal at the Metropolitan Police Range (MPR),

Lalitpur, said the MPR has deployed about two dozen police personnel in the village for round-the-clock duty as per the request of the villagers. The situation in the village took a nasty turn when locals thrashed Nabin Shrestha and Raj Kumar Shrestha, who allegedly kidnapped and murdered Dhiraj.

“All the villagers have been feeling insecure as they think that those who were arrested have wide network of criminals,” another local said, adding:

“As they are professional criminals and have a wide network, they can harm the locals since they are threatening to do so.”

The police arrested alleged abductors and murderers Nabin Shrestha, Raj Kumar Shrestha, Tika Ram Shrestha, Raju Magar and taxi driver Bhoj Kumar Lama. Another accused Rajkumar Lama is still absconding. Adhikari was kidnapped when he was returning home from school last Thursday and murdered on the same day.