Sudurpaschim Province Police today made public a person who confessed to the rape and murder of 17-year-old Bhagarathi Bhatta of Baitadi district.
In the press conference held at Baitadi District Police Office (DPO) at 2:00 pm today, police paraded 17-year-old Dinesh Bhatta, also XIth grader at local Sanatan Dharma Secondary School, Shreekot where the victim was a XIIth grader student. Dinesh and Bhagarathi were neighbours, police informed.
Police revealed that Dinesh committed the crime out of a desire for vengeance as his and the victim's family had been living with the soured relationship.
The law enforcers also informed that the perpetrator had followed the teenage girl who was returning from school, and raped her before he strangled her to death. Several eyewitnesses and the evidence collected from the incident site had pointed towards Dinesh, police said.
Bhagarathi Bhatta of (Katola), Chadepani in Dogdakedar Rural Municipality-7 of Baitadi district was found dead in Lawalek forest on Thursday, February 4. Bhatta was found with bruises all over her body with the strangulated neck.
Police have also sent the vaginal swab of the deceased to a forensic lab in Kathmandu.
Previously, the victim's elder brother Shankar Bhatta, who had returned from India following the incident, had lodged first information report (FIR) with police accusing Dinesh Bhatta of raping and killing his sister.
Meanwhile, the accused has been arrested and put on trial for five days with an order issued by the District Court, Baitadi on Wednesday, according to chief at Sudurpaschim Province Police Office, Deputy General of Police (DIG) Uttamraj Subedi.
