Home Minister Rama Bahadur Thapa has said the government has not taken the case of rapes and murders in the ashrams of Ram Bahadur Bomjon lightly.
Responding to the question by CPN lawmaker Komal Oli in the National Assembly about progress in the case of Bomjon on Wednesday, Minister Thapa said the case is a serious one and the government has taken it seriously. "The government is investigating the case. The general public is interested in the case," Minister Thapa said. "We have not taken this case lightly."
Police investigation against Bomjon has lost pace in lack of political support. Five missing complaints and a rape complaint have been lodged since Setopati published a news report titled '
Series of sexual exploitation and violence in Bomjon's ashrams' on December 26, 2018 documenting how four persons are missing from his ashram.
Nepal Police leadership met Home Minister Thapa and briefed him about the Bomjon case before initiating investigation. "The pace of investigation would have been different had Home Minister Thapa showed interest and involvement in the case then," a police officer involved in investigation confided with Setopati.
The pace of investigation in Bomjon's case by the Nepal Police, that has gone defensive after the rape and murder of Nirmala Panta, has been sluggish right from the beginning after not getting firm backing from the Home Ministry.
Police officers have confided with Setopati that they could not arrest Bomjon and move the investigation forward after the Home Ministry hinted that the case should not be moved forward unless there is solid evidence.
