KALIKOT, Jan 20: A 38-year-old man from Panchapuri Municipality-3, Tokma, of Surkhet killed his wife by striking her with a sickle on December 6, 2022. After the murder, the man was arrested on his way to the police office with his wife's head wrapped in a plastic bag. But the real story behind the photo that went viral on social media is something different.
Ammar Bahadur, who went to Dubai and Malaysia for foreign employment for eight years, returned home only in September last year only to find his wife misuse the hard-earned money he sent to her. According to the police, he was suspicious of his wife after she embezzled the money he had sent from abroad. Police investigation revealed that the murder took place on the same issue. Ammar Bahadur is currently in jail.
In another incident, villagers attacked the police and the victim's family on May 6, 2023 when police went to arrest an accused who was absconding on rape charges. The villagers attacked the police who went to arrest the rape accused, 31-year-old Shank Budha of Palanta rural municipality-6 of Kalikot district. While the police were handcuffing Budha at around 6:30 in the morning on May 8 in a bid to bring him to the headquarters, the locals attacked the police injuring two.
Assistant Sub Inspector of Police (ASI) Laxmi Rudra Rawat of the permanent police post in Kardeb and Dhanman BK, a member of the victim's family, were injured in the attack by the villagers, and the accused Budha, who fled the scene, was arrested by the police after 13 days. The police arrested 16 people including the accused.
According to the police, Budha had raped a Dalit woman of the village on October 17, 2022. The victim's family filed a complaint at the district police office on October 26.
Criminal activities rampant in Rautahat
Similarly, on October 25, Deepak Bohora of Chhayanath Rara Municipality-6, Mundu, had all his dreams shattered. He not only lost his wife Sridevi, but his 11-year-old son Manoj, seven-year-old daughter Apsara and five-month-old son Rahar forever. Relatives had brutally killed them.
While in Qatar, he used to have daily video calls with Sridevi. In every conversation, their advice was to return home soon and settle the debt and build a house. He became emotional when he remembered the video conversation with his wife.
“She had a dream to educate our children in a boarding school. My daughter used to ask me to bring earrings and my son to bring me a mobile phone,” recalls Deepak with tears in his eyes. Deepak had plans to return home from Qatar in May-June.
Deepak received a video call from his brother's daughter in the morning of October 27. In the video call, she was not only crying, but could hardly say anything. Deepak was terrified seeing his brother’s daughter crying inconsolably. She could barely describe the incident to Deepak. He felt as if he fell from the roof after hearing the incident. He recalled talking with his wife and children on video call until late at night on October 26.
"The culprit shattered all my plans and dreams. I feel like an outsider in my own home. What should I do? Where should I go? What steps should I take?" he lamented. “I had no enmity, transaction with either of them. They had been plotting to kill me for not helping them to obtain visas,” he added.
Bharat Budha of Panchapuri municipality in West Surkhet filed a complaint at the district police office on November 1 stating that his sister was raped. In the complaint, it was mentioned that her father, Nayaram Budha called her sister, who was staying at her maternal uncle's house, to his house on October 13.
After a complaint that a daughter was raped by her own father, the police went to village to find Nayaram. By the time the complaint was filed, he had already reached India. Another incident happened at the same place on Monday night. Bharat, who reported that his sister was raped by his father, was found dead.
According to the police, Bharat's body was found near the place where his sister was said to have been raped. The preliminary investigation of the police has shown that Nayaram, who is accused of raping his daughter, killed the son who had filed a complaint against him.
According to the police, Nayaram left for India on January 11, 2023 with a plan to kill his 17-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter. He seems to have returned to the village on Monday. The police suspect that Nayaram hid in the forest near the village during the day and reached home after nightfall.
According to the police, initially Nayaram pressured his son not to file the complaint. He had been threatening to kill both the brothers and sisters if they filed the complaint. Bharat had not left his sister alone since the incident because of his father's threats. After Bharat's mother eloped with someone else, Nayaram also got married for the second time.
Bharat's sister was living in her maternal father’s house after her father got married for the second time. It is mentioned in the complaint filed by Bharat that Nayaram raped his sister after calling her back home. According to the police, Nayaram fled with his wife after raping his daughter and returned to the village on January 15.
A team of District Police Office Surkhet arrested him from Tikapur in Kailali at around 9:00 on Friday (January 19).
According to the police, the number of criminal incidents is increasing due to strained family relations due to foreign employment, financial hardship, financial temptation, among others.
