Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa has revealed that the clothes worn by Nirmala Panta, who was raped and murdered over two months ago, were burnt and thumbprint of her father was forged in the field report prepared by the police.
Responding to queries of lawmakers in the meeting of State Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives (HoR) on Wednesday, Thapa stated that the clothes Nirmala wore were burnt after murder.
"There are blunders by the police in investigation. The clothes she wore have been taken off and burnt," he said.
"Another thing, her body was found on July 27 and the field report prepared on the same day has her father's thumbprint. But her father had come to Nepal from India only on July 28."
The probe committee formed under Director General of the Department of Prison Management Hari Mainali had submitted the report to Home Minister Thapa on Tuesday.
He stressed that the government is investigating the incident seriously and expressed commitment that the culprits will not be spared whoever they may be. "You can have doubts about our efficiency because there has been no result but should not doubt our intention," he argued.
Responding to questions about when the culprits will be nabbed, he pointed that the administration and police are no astrologers and cannot predict the exact date. "We cannot tell the exact date but can intensify the efforts," he added.
He claimed that there will be no political protection of the culprits as the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) has also taken the incident seriously. "The police are also not in a state to let the culprits go scot free."
He said the government has not reached conclusion that the rising incidents of rape are being sponsored against the government when a few lawmakers asked if they were sponsored incidents.
CPN lawmaker Jhapat Rawal and Nepali Congress (NC) Amresh Kumar Singh pointed at the failure of the chain of command of police.
Nepal Police IGP Sarbendra Khanal, who was also present in the meeting, in response claimed that the police have not left any stone unturned and added that there has been no failure of chain of command. "One incident in Kanchanpur has overshadowed the police's work," IGP Khanal said. "I want to again come to this committee and speak once the investigation concludes."
The body of 13-year-old Panta of Bhimdutta municipality 2, who had gone to a friend’s home for study on July 26, was found at a sugarcane field the next day.
A CIB team led by DSP Angur GC had reached Kanchanpur four days after the incident. Doubts arose about the police investigation after the CIB team and the then SP at Kanchanpur Bista made 41-year-old Dilip Singh Bista, who was mentally challenged, public as the culprit on the 24th day of the incident on August 18.
The District Government Attorney Office released Bista after DNA samples collected from Nirmala Panta’s body did not match with that of Bista.
The locals have been claiming that Bista was 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 was killed in police firing and dozens injured in clashes with police as the locals protested for days accusing the police of trying to save the real culprits.
The then SP of Kanchanpur Dilli Raj Bista was then suspended for mishandling the case while the CIB sent another team under SSP Thakur Gyawali for investigations.
Samples have since been collected for DNA test of the suspended SP Bista, his son Kiran and Aayush Bista, nephew of Mayor of Bhimdutta municipality Surendra Bista to investigate the case. Police personnel involved in preliminary investigation have also undergone lie-detector tests.
