PANCHTHAR: The body of Mandira Adhikari, a teenager who it was revealed had been murdered, was found in the banks of Tamor river that separates Panchthar and Tehrathum districts.

According to Police Inspector Sheshak Ram Thamdar at the Area Police Office (APO), Tehrathum, the body of the deceased was recovered from Seti Bagar, near Phakwuwa Dobhan. Inspector Thamdar added that the body was found by Dhan Bahadur Majhi of Panchthar while he was fishing in the river.

Majhi informed the police when he saw the body, following which a team from the Aathrai-based APO reached the site and carried out an investigation to confirm it was Mandira's body. It has been reported that Mandira's kin identified her on the basis of the bangles that she'd been wearing.

Mandira,19, who had been missing from her home since December 3, was murdered at Fulbari of Athrai Triveni Rural Municipality, Taplejung. Ramesh Adhikari of Hangpang in Taplejung confessed to killing Mandira and throwing her body into Tamor river.

After Ramesh confessed to the crime committed by him, police from Taplejung, Panchthar, Tehrathum and Dhankuta along with locals had started searching for the body, but to no avail, until now.

Mandira had gone missing after she received a phone call on the evening of December 3. Police arrested Ramesh on December 25 after family members suspected his involvement in Mandira’s disappearance. She was a 12th grader at local Durga Secondary School. Ramesh had lived for a long time in a rented room at Mandira’s house.

Chandra Adhikari, Mandira’s uncle, earlier said that Ramesh had sent a message from Mandira’s Facebook account to her sister Alisha after the murder. The message read that she had married a boy from Jhapa. This was an attempt on Ramesh's part to create a situation which would justify Mandira's disappearance.

Police investigation has also revealed that Ramesh and Mandira, who were related to one another, were also attached romantically, and he might have murdered her thinking she would create problems for him to marry another girl.

(Translated by Priyanka Adhikari)