The Nepal Police has started polygraph (lie detector) test of the police personnel involved in the preliminary investigations of the rape and murder of 13-year-old Nirmala Panta of Bhimdutta municipality of Kanchanpur.
The probe committee led by DIG Dhiru Basnet conducted polygraph test on the police personnel involved in the investigation.
According to sources, the committee is conducting polygraph test on the police personnel who were deployed at the site of incident and those who washed Nirmala's clothes.
"We've completed polygraph test on those police personnel who were mobilized on the field. We are conducting polygraph test on the then District Police Chief of Kanchanpur SP Dilli Raj Bista," a police source told Setopati.
Additional investigation into other police personnel involved in the Nirmala's case is underway, informed police spokesperson SSP Shailesh Thapa.
A five-member committee was earlier formed under SSP Uttam Subedi to investigate the case.
The Nepal Police Headquarters later formed a nine-member probe committee after release of Dilip Singh Bista paraded by the police as the main accused following DNA report.
The Ministry of Home Affairs had suspended five police personnel including three from CIB who had reached Kanchanpur to investigate the case on July 30.
The government later formed a five-member probe committee under Director General of Prisoners Management Department Hari Mainali on August 23.
On the basis of the report prepared by the committee, the Home Ministry suspended DSP Gyan Bahadur Shetty, Angur GC, inspector Jagadish Bhatta, Ekendra Khadka and Sub-Inspector Ram Singh Dhami for not conducting investigation responsibly.
Earlier, the Home Ministry had suspended the then police chief SP Dilli Raj Bista.
The samples of DNA of three persons including the then police chief Bista was sent for test.
