Police arrested Sunita Karki,32, on December 6 for the charge of poisoning food and killing her mother-in-law, Indramaya Rai,77 from Singhadevi Tole in Belbari Municipality-2. The accused is the wife of the victim’s nephew. Due to poisoning, father-in-law, Bhakta Bahadur Rai,70, was seriously injured. He is receiving treatment at Nobel Hospital in Biratnagar Metropolitan City-4. On 6 December, locals found Bhakta Bahadur Rai unconscious in a nearby stream. When he was taken home, the body of his wife, Indramaya Rai, was discovered inside the house.
DSP Harinandan Chaudhary of the District Police Office stated that preliminary investigations revealed that, among the mother-in-law and father-in-law who ate breakfast on the morning of 6 December, the mother-in-law died immediately. The elderly couple reportedly fed the leftover food to their chickens, and it was found that three chickens that ate the food also died. The police stated that, while the nephew was away from home, the accused poisoned the food. The container of poison was found partially burned in the fire.
The post-mortem of the body was conducted at Koshi Hospital on 7 December. On the same day, the police filed a case under the charge of killing against the accused at the District Court and have begun legal proceedings.