A man has been arrested on June 4 on the charge of killing Rama Tiwari, 21, of Damak Municipality–8 on May 27.
Police arrested Rakesh Kumar Pandit, 34, an Indian national originally from Sirsiyakala Gram Panchayat, Bhargama Police Station, Araria District, Bihar State, India, who had been residing in a rented room in Damak Municipality–5 and working as a tile mason, on the charge of raping and then strangling the 21-year-old woman to death on May 27. He was arrested from his room on June 4, according to DSP Hari Bahadur Basnet of the Area Police Office, Damak.
During the preliminary investigation, the accused Pandit confessed that he killed the victim during a dispute over money, DSP Basnet said.
The victim’s body was found wrapped in a sack beneath a bridge over the Ratuwa River in the Setumari area of Damak Municipality–10 on May 30.
After the victim’s father, Narayan Tiwari, identified the body based on the clothes she was wearing, a post-mortem examination was conducted the same day at B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Ghopa, Dharan.
The victim’s family received the body on June 1 and performed the funeral according to Christian rites.
Following the incident, a joint police team comprising technical experts deployed from the Koshi Province Police Office, Biratnagar, personnel from the Nepal Police Provincial Police Office, Dharan, Sunsari, and the Area Police Office, Damak identified Pandit’s involvement through close surveillance of the crime scene, technical analysis, and examination and analysis of CCTV footage from the surrounding area.
Police stated that the investigation revealed that after murdering the woman on the night of May 27, Pandit fled to India on May 28. As the victim’s boyfriend had become linked to the case, Pandit reportedly felt safe and returned to Damak from India on May 30. He was arrested by police the same night.
Police have initiated legal action against the accused by filing charges of rape and murder at the District Court through the District Government Attorney’s Office on June 5.