The Home Ministry on Saturday has directed the Nepal Police headquarters to suspend the then SP of Kanchanpur Dilli Raj Bista in connection to rape and murder of teenager Nirmala Panta of Bhimdutta municipality of Kanchanpur.
Kiran Bhattarai, press coordinator of Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, said the headquarters has been instructed to initiate the process of suspending SP Bista. "DSP Gyan Bahadur Seti and inspector at litigation section Ekendra Khadka will also be summoned to the headquarters," Bhattarai said.
The ministry has already summoned SP Bista and CDO of Kanchanpur Kumar Bahadur Khadka to Kathmandu following their mishandling of the rape and murder case.
The police earlier on Saturday arrested friend of 13-year-old Panta whose house she had visited before she was raped and murdered, and the friend’s sister for investigation.
Nirmala’s friend Roshani Bam and her elder sister Anita Bam were arrested from their home.
The body of 13-year-old Panta of Bhimdutta municipality 2, who had gone to Bam’s home for study on July 26, was found at a sugarcane field the next day.
The police last Saturday arrested Dilip Singh Bista, 41, of Bhimdutta-19 and produced him before the Kanchanpur District Court on Monday as the main accused. But the locals have been claiming that Bista has been framed by the police to save the real culprits.
Nirmala's father Ek Raj has claimed that the police put pressure on him to file a complaint identifying Bista as the main accused.
One boy has been killed in police firing and dozens have been injured in clashes with police as the locals have been protesting for the past few days accusing the police of trying to save the real culprits.
