Sanu Kanchha sent to jail until final verdict

Kathmandu, September 11

Kathmandu District Court today sent Sanu Kanchha Tamang, a prime suspect in the murder of former ambassador of Nepal to France Kheshav Raj Jha, to custody until final verdict.

Tamang, was the only person against whom wife of the deceased, Gyanu, had filed a first information report on August 14, nearly a year after the murder. After today’s hearing, a single bench of judge Badri Prasad Oli ordered that he be sent to jail until the case is decided, denying him bail.

With the order, Sanu Kanchha has been sent to Sundhara-based Central Jail, according to Deputy Superintendent of Police Krishan Kumar Chand of Teku-based Metropolitan Police Range. Police had submitted the case file to the court yesterday through the office of district attorney.

MPR, Teku, had launched fresh investigation by taking Tamang in custody on August 16. Tamang, a cook-cum guard working in Jha’s house, was one of the three persons including Jha, and his wife Gyanu,75, present at the two storied house on the night of murder.

A police source claimed Tamang stabbed Jha, 79, to death in a fit of anger as the master pressured him to pay Rs 50,000 that he had borrowed earlier. Previously, Tamang was detained and interrogated by police on several occasions as one of the prime suspects in the case. But, he was released due to lack of evidence.

Weapon used in the murder was found stuck in the sweatshirt Jha was wearing that night, but police failed to identify any finger print in the knife, making the investigation complicated. Jha was stabbed multiple times with kitchen knife in the head and chest, near the right and the left collar bones.

Besides Tamang, police had also nabbed part-time workers at Jha’s house, gardener Aita Singh Tamang and cook Jay Bahadur Tamang as prime suspects following the incident. But, they were released as police could not collect substantive evidence to prove their involvement in the crime. Police had also conducted polygraph test on the three suspects, which was not helpful.

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