Belbari, April 30 :

It was the unkindest cut of all. A local FM station was airing the news of Sapana Gurung’s death at the hands of security personnel in Belbari while her husband Gyan Bahadur Gurung was en route home from Biratnagar airport in a microbus. Gyan Bahadur fainted. The microbus staff took Gurung home as he failed to come to.

At home, all the family members were mourning Sapana’s death. Gyan’s mother-in-law, Shova, was petrified to find her son-in-law, who returned to after four years, unconscious.

Gurung regained consciousness only at 3 am on Friday. On waking up, he found a large crowd assembled around him. “All of us spent the night weeping,” he said.

Gurung had left for Malaysia as Sapana was pregnant with his now four-year-old son, Deepak. On returning to Nepal, Gurung was unable to recognise his son. His seven-year-old daughter, Nirmala, could not recognise her father either. Gurung had left for Malaysia

after renting a room for his family at Belbari. “I was thinking of settling down with my family at Ghogharjhoda in Morang. All my dreams have gone up in smoke,” he wept.

Gurung flew to Biratnagar the very day he arrived in the capital from Malaysia. He returned to Nepal on hearing the heart-rending incident that befell his wife.

“Sapana had suggested the other day over the telephone that I delay my Nepal visit because of the seven-party-led agitation,” he said. “I also brought a colour television and clothes for all family members. However, I lost all my goods when I lost consciousness en route,” he said. Seven people, including Sapana, were killed in the Belbari incident. The final rites of five of those killed were performed on the bank of the local Lohandra River. The DAO provided the families of deceased persons with Rs 10,000 each to perform the final rites.