Apathy charge

DHANGADI: Kin of Dhirkaraj Sharma, 45, of KI Singh Rural Municipality-2, Doti, have accused the police of showing apathy towards arresting persons involved in his ‘murder’.

Sharma, who had been living in Belgium for the past two decades had come home to celebrate Dashain leaving his wife and children behind. His body was found near a cliff close to his home on Thursday evening.

Sharma’s kin had then filed an FIR with the police identifying the incident as murder and seeking the arrest of Khagendra Prasad Upadhyaya and Tekraj Ojha whom they identified as ‘murderers.

They accused the duo of beating the 45-year-old to death. Their account, however, contradicted that of the locals who said Sharma died when he tripped over and fell down under the spell of alcohol. On his part, SP Madhusudan Luintel of District Police Office, Doti, said investigation into the incident was on. “We’re serious about the incident. But it doesn’t mean we have to arrest people without launching proper investigation,” he said, adding that the body had been returned to his family following a post-mortem.