Kathmandu, July 24

The Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police has unravelled the mystery surrounding the May 5 death of a jailbird in Nakhkhu prison.

Bhakta Bahadur Sunar, 32, of Bardiya, who was admitted to Patan Hospital after he suffered continuous vomiting for three days, had died while undergoing treatment. An investigation report with opinion and suggestions submitted to the Office of District Attorney, Lalitpur, show that Sunar was poisoned to death by his jail mates. Sunar was doing time on a rape and murder case in the jail.

Abhishek Raj Singh, 40, a serial killer, who is serving a life sentence, for three counts of murder and an attempted murder he committed in Surkhet, Bhaktapur, Janakpur and Rupandhi, had perpetrated the murder by giving Sunar a poison made from various plants. Police have not disclosed the species of herbs Singh used to poison his fellow inmate.

DIG Narayan Singh Khadka, CIB director, said Singh ganged up with Manoj Kumar Chaurasiya, 35, of Saptari doing time on a banking offence case and Drhuba Kumar Sharma, 30, of Dolakha who was released from the jail on February 10, 2017, after serving sentence for theft.

“Singh together with Chaurasiya made a poison from the mixtures of herbs passed to them by Sharma through various means and put poison in Sunar’s food,” he informed. In previous murder incidents too, Singh had adopted the same modus operandi to kill his targets.

As per the plan, Singh made Sunar write a letter to Minister of Home Affairs Ram Bahadur Thapa about the alleged ‘irregularities, and physical and metal torture meted out to him by the incumbent chaukidar (leader of prisoners)’ before poisoning the victim.

“Singh was of the opinion that if Sunar died of poison, the MoHA would launch an investigation into his death on the basis of the letter and find the jail administration and chaukidar guilty, and he would be made new chaukidar in the prison,” said DIG Khadka. Singh had caused Sharma to email a scanned copy of the letter to the MoHA on May 2.

Earlier, a five-member committee led by Krishna Prasad Adhikari, director at the Department of Prison Management, had been formed to investigate into the incident.

On the basis of the recommendation of the committee, MoHA had directed CIB to take up the case and establish the facts. Meanwhile, the government attorneys are preparing to file a charge-sheet against Singh, Chaurasiya and Sharma at Lalitpur District Court.