Kathmandu, September 30, 2006

The headless body of an eightyear schoolboy, Bibek Sharma Luitel, who was abducted 21 days ago from his residence in Koteshwor, was found on the bank of Dhobikhola in Chabahil this morning.

Police said the headless body was putrefying some three metres away from Bhatkeko Bridge, north of Om Hospital in Chabahil, while his head was found 99 feet away.

Briefing mediapersons here today, Arjun Jung Shahi, Senior Superintendent of Police, who is heading the team that probed Bibek’s abduction, said the boy was murdered around 8 pm on the very night he was abducted.

The kidnapping case was solved only after the arrest of 22-year-old Pappu Mandal yesterday from his in-laws’ house in Sitamadi Charot Gaun in India. Mandal, who hails from Manarakatti in Mahottari district, has admitted to his involvement in the crime.

“He took us to the incident site this morning,” Shahi said. The police had arrested two others in the case — Wakil Ansari, 19 and Bhikhari Khan, 38 of, Kalawari Majherima, India — on September 11. They have also confessed to their hand in the crime.

The police are looking for another accused, Akabar Ansari. According to Mandal, he and Wakil killed the boy on way to their flat they had rented four months ago. “Wakil wanted to return the money he had taken from his brother-in-law promising to send him abroad.

We had abducted Bibek to seek money from his parents,” he said. It is learnt that the kidnappers had planned to seek Rs 20 lakh as ransom.

Govt not doing enough for Kumaris’ upkeep?

The Living Goddess Kumari, who is adorned by the head of the state himself and poses as an attraction for millions of people, tourists and media gets hardly more than an office boy’s salary in the government’s pay scale, for sacrificing her juvenile years, and for her “divine powers”.

“The Kathmandu Kumari is given Rs 6,000 per month as livelihood allowance and Rs 1,000 per month as scholarship,” states a report of Kaushi Toshkhana Office, an outlet of Ministry of Finance for Cultural Expenditures, sent to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation recently. She started getting scholarship only last year.

The government had to disclose the details of the Living Goddess’s entitlement only after it became a legal issue, when an advocate, Pundevi Maharjan Sujana, filed a case against the government, seeking rights and facilities to the girl child last year.

The government had to produce a report of what Kumari has been getting, as per the order of the Supreme Court.

According to the report, the Kumari is also given a pension of Rs 3,000 per month after she ceases to be Kumari.