Four of family hacked to death

PALPA: Four members of a family were brutally murdered at Budhichaur of Thimure VDC-1 in the district on Tuesday. The incident has unleashed terror among villagers.

The villagers came to know of the incident only after 24 hours after they found 56-year-old Yam Kumari Bagal, her daughter Tulashi Gharti and Gharti's eight-year-old daughter Sandhya and six-year-old son Sandeep dead in their house.

Police suspect the criminals killed them and made away with valuables from the house. Tulashi Gharti whose in-laws' house is in Kusumkhola-1 had been living in her maternal house after the death of her husband. Dumbfounded villagers are not able to even speak to mediapersons openly.

Talking to this correspondent, Palpa DSP Pawan Kumar Giri said that though the criminals had killed them with a view to loot property, the murder of the children show that the murderers were from a nearby area. The locals informed the area police post at Mujhung after they found about the murder.

Though the police from the post reached the area yesterday, they returned from the site saying that a team from the district can only work in the case. A team led by DSP Giri reached the site this morning. The bodies, bearing marks of sharp weapons, have been taken to the district hospital Tansen for post-mortem.

Locals said the police arrived late in the site though they had informed them in time. The villagers feel the murder must have taken place on Tuesday afternoon as the weather was windy and it was raining that day. Bagal's husband had been to Kathmandu for treatment of his youngest daughter, while his son has been studying in Tansen.

The murderers took away 10 tolas of gold and Rs 150,000 from the house. A relative of the dead Nar Bahadur Bagale said the incident has spread terror among the villagers.