Kailali, January 3:

Dr Harihar Wasti, forensic expert at the Teaching Hospital, and Dr Jivan Rijal, expert at NAST, today said the DNA testing of the skeleton exhumed from Rajrajeshwari community forest of Kailali district by an NHRC team was necessary. The skeleton, exhumed yesterday with other pieces of evidence, is believed to be that of Thamman Bahadur Bam of Ramshikharjhala. Bam’s family thinks that Bam might have been buried at the spot after Maoists killed him about five years ago.

“Doctors at the Seti zonal hospital carried out preliminary tests on the remains, but DNA testing is necessary to determine whether the skeleton is really that of Bam, “ said Wasti. He said the DNA testing would be done in Kathmandu.

Two years ago, Bam’s parents had filed a case at the far-west regional office of the NHRC claiming that their son was killed by Maoists and buried in a remote spot. An NHRC team led by office deputy director Kosh Raj Nuepane yesterday dug up the spot in Ramshikharjhala VDC-8. The team comprising 12 officials found the skeleton in the sack, a red sweater, a bracelet and other pieces of evidence. Bam’s sister Tinku Singh and his uncle Chakra Bahadur, who accompanied the team, had insisted that it was Bam’s skeleton.

The excavation team included Wasti, Rijal, NHRC regional deputy director Neupane, Shyam Babu Kafle, Shree Ram Adhikari, and Jhankar Rawal.

Bam was kidnapped by Maoists during the insurgency. He was an NC cadre and former chairman of his VDC. His younger brother was killed in Kathmandu in the 2006 April uprising.

Mother’s wish:

DHANGADHI: “I want neither money nor property. All I want is to know how my son was killed,” said Bam’s aged mother, Radha Devi Bam, who reached the Seti zonal hospital on Thursday. “No amount of compensation can fill the void left by his death,” she said, adding that she would not rest until she saw handcuffs on the wrists of his killers. Pointing to the human remains, she said, “I had two sons. The Maoists killed one and the government killed the other.” When Wasti pointed to a sweater lying near the skelton and asked her if she could say for sure if it was her son’s, she cried out, “They took him away in the middle of the night. How can anyone say for sure what he was wearing?” — HNS