Police arrested 36-year-old Sanjib Deuba of Barhabise Municipality-7, Khaniyabas, on August 6 from Gongbu, Kathmandu, on the charge of killing 71-year-old Ratnakumari Thapa, also from Barabise Municipality. The aggrieved party filed a complaint against the accused at the Area Police Office in Barhabise on August 5, alleging that the accused strangled the victim while she was asleep on the night of August 3, 2024.
DSP Niranjan Bhattarai of the District Police Office stated that a case has been registered against the accused under Section 177 of the National Penal Code (Act) 2017 for the offense of killing, and Section 244 for theft and robbery. The investigation began on August 6, 2024, with the permission of the district court. It is alleged that the accused robbed the victim of her social security (old age) allowance of Rs 12,000 and an additional Rs 65,000 before killing her on the night of August 3.
On the morning of August 4, when the woman did not wake up, her neighbors conducted a search and discovered her body with her hands tied on the floor of her house.
According to DSP Bhattarai, the preliminary investigation revealed that the victim was strangled to death. The postmortem was conducted on August 4 at the Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu.