DHANGADI: At a time when the police are struggling to find any clue in the Nirmala rape and murder case, the victim’s mother, Durga Devi has done a volte-face. Totally in variance with the FIR she had lodged earlier this year, she now suspects Dilip Singh Bista raped and killed her daughter. In the early phase of their investigation, police had projected Bista as the main suspect before releasing him from detention for lack of evidence.

“I recently watched the video of Bista’s statement given to the police. His confession sounds credible,” Durga Devi told THT. “He could very well be the person responsible for the murder,” she said.

Regarding sacked inspector Jagadish Bhatta, who she had named in her FIR, Durga Devi claimed that Bhatta’s name was included without her knowledge. “Bhatta is my neighbour. When I filed the case against cops I didn’t notice that his name was also there,” she claimed.

On March 7, she filed an application seeking to scrap the cases against cops. “As rights activists didn’t cooperate with me to scrap the case against cops, I myself filed the application,” she said. “My main concern is to get justice. But I don’t want to bother any innocent person,” she said, referring to the cops named in the FIR.