KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 13

Police have arrested three persons for luring a real estate agent to an isolated place and looting him before beating him to death, in Bhaktapur.

Those arrested have been identified as Kami Lama, 37, aka Sherpa of Barhabise Municipality of Sindhupalchok district, Ramesh Tamang, 23, aka Jawala of Batase Municipality and Prem Tamang, 27 of Dhobi Municipality in Ramechhap district.

On October 7, Ramesh and Prem had gone to an eatery operated by Chandra Bahadur Yonjan, 61, at Sudal of Changu Narayan Municipality in Bhaktapur.

There they drank beer and impressed Yonjan saying that they had lots of money and were in search of some land in the area.

Yonjan, also a real estate agent, believed their story.

The duo asked Yonjan if he could help them buy some land. Yonjan took the prospective buyers to an |isolated place around one kilometre away from the eatery to show some land plots.

Upon reaching the place, the duo thrashed him and looted his gold chain and smart phone and fled the scene. Yonjan, who fell unconscious on the ground, was rescued after sometime and rushed to Thimi-based Madhyapur Hospital. With the help of his family, Yonjan was transferred to Basundhara-based Greencity Hospital. But, despite all efforts to save his life, Yonjan succumbed to his injuries the next day.

The Metropolitan Crime Division, which initiated search for the absconders, was able to nab the perpetrators yesterday from Bouddha area.

Police said the deceased had allegedly borrowed money from Kami Lama.

As he had been refusing to pay back the amount, Kami had hired Ramesh and Prem, who looted his valuables and thrashed him to death.

Senior Superintendent of Police Deepak Thapa of the crime division said all the three have been charged with murder. He said the group was involved in criminal activities in the past also. “They had a history of disguising themselves as rich people, lure real-estate owners at isolated places mostly on the outskirts of the valley and then loot them,” SSP Thapa said.

A version of this article appears in print on October 14, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.