Kathmandu, July 1

Police today arrested 27-year-old Ishwari Bhattarai of Changunarayan Municipality, Bhaktapur, for allegedly plotting her mother Sabitri Bhattarai’s murder.

Sixty-one-year old Sabitri, a resident of Chandrawoti Rural Municipality, Sidhupalchowk, was found dead yesterday at her daughter Ishwari’s home around 12:00pm in Changu Narayan with her throat slit. Sabitri was staying with her daughter there.

Police also nabbed Ishwari’s alleged paramour Muhammad Nausad Khan, 23, of Kalyanpur Municipality, Siraha, and his two Indian accomplices — Bhola Kumar, 24, aka Arjun Kumar of East Delhi and Muhammad Rais, 24, of Madhubani, Bihar — for their alleged involvement in Sabitiri’s murder.

According to police, Ishwari who is married and has a four-year-old son, was having an illicit affairs with Mohmmad for some time.

Ishwari’s husband runs a hotel in Kathmandu.

Metropolitan Police Crime Division, Teku, made the four accused public today. Ishwari’s alleged paramour Muhammad used to live in old Thimi, and frequently visited her home.

Chief of the MPCD Senior Superintendent of Police Sahakul Bahadur Thapa said Sabitri, who knew about her daughter’s illicit relations with Mohmmad, wanted to save her daughter’s marital life and family, and she had also given Rs 100,000 to Mohmmad to go to Dubai for foreign employment.

“But Mohmmad returned to Nepal on June 25 without staying in Dubai even for one-and-half months with the motive of killing Sabitri so that he could live happily with her daughter,” SSP Thapa said.

Deputy Superintendent of Police at Metropolitan Police Range, Bhaktapur, Sabin Pradhan said Ishwari and Mohmmad were in regular contact through Imo and Viber when Mohmmad was in Dubai.

“Police are awaiting digital forensic examination of their mobile phones to find out what messages were exactly exchanged between them,” DSP Pradhan said.

Ishwari had also agreed to provide Rs 1.2 million to Muhammad to kill her mother, said SSP Thapa.

According to DSP Rabin Karki of MPCD, the Indian nationals hired by Muhammad had reached Kathmandu on June 29, a day before the murder took place.

“The three men had entered Ishwari’s home yesterday noon when Sabitri was alone. “Two of them held Sabitri while Rais slit the woman’s throat,” said SSP Thapa.

Earlier at 9:00am, before killing Sabitri, Muhammad had visited Ishwari’s home, “ DSP Karki said.

He added that Sabitri had beaten Mohmmad with a broom when she saw him in her daughter’s home. She was furious to see the man, whom she had given her hard earned money in a bid to save her daughter’s family, in her daughter’s house again.

“But on the day of the murder, Ishwari was not at home.

She had gone to her sister’s home in Godawari,” DSP Pradhan said.

After the murder, the two Indian nationals fled to Makawanpur district. By evening, police had already nabbed Muhammad and they also arrested Ishwari at around 8:00pm yesterday from her home.

Police said Ishwari’s fouryear-old son’s narration of the early morning incident helped them crack the case within 24 hours. The boy told the police that Muhammad had come to their house before her grandmother took him to school on the day.

Ishwari, on the other hand, has not admitted her involvement in the murder yet. But circumstantial evidences are against her.

“All the circumstantial evidences show that Ishwari and Muhammad jointly hatched a plot to kill Sabitri,” said SSP Thapa.