A premeditated crime driven by personal grudges
KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 17
Police have made public the prime accused in Baitadi-teenage girl's rape and murder case.
A 17-year-old, a grade 11 student of Sanatan Dharma Secondary School – also attended by the victim – has confessed to his crimes afore the investigating officers, says police. He also lived in the same vicinity as the victim's family.
He was made public by the Sudurpashchim Province Police during a press conference held today at Baitadi District Police Office. As per the detainee's initial statement, the criminal act was motivated by personal grudges.
He said in his confession that his family and the victim's family had strained relations. He further admitted that he was waiting for the 'right opportunity' to act on his premeditated plans to assault his schoolmate.
During the investigation, it was found that the accused, on February 3, had followed her to Lablek Community Forest where he raped and murdered her, informed Chief of Sudurpaschim Provincial Police Office, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Uttam Raj Subedi, during the press meet.
DIG Subedi further said that police, during the course of the investigation, found the detainee's activities suspicious, following which they arrested and made him public on the basis of various technical analyses, his location during the incident, statement of the eyewitnesses, and the accused's own statement.
Shankar Bhatta, brother of the murdered teen, registered a first information report (FIR) at Baitadi District Police Office, accusing the arrested suspect of rape and subsequent murder of his sister. The accused was then taken before Baitadi District Court that remanded him into judicial custody for further investigation.
Police had detained dozens of people including a public office holder in Mahendranagar for conducting investigation into the case.
The victim, who had attended her school on February 3, never made it home. She was found the next day, lifeless, in the local community forest on February 4.
