Sankhuwasabha murder case details

Sept 6: Six members of a family were hacked to death in Madi Municipality-1, Sankhuwasabha district, on Monday, September 6.

Police identified the victims as Tej Bahadur Karki (58), his mother Parbata (84), spouse Kamala (56), daughter-in-law Ranjana (28), grandson Dipen (10), and granddaughter Goma (5), informed Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Laldhwaj Subedi at Sankhhuwasabha District Police Office.

Local teacher Yogendra Ojha informed police about the incident, according to police.

Acting on the information, a team of police personnel deployed from the district headquarters Khandbari for the onsite investigation. Likewise, security personnel deployed from the Chainpur-based Area Police Office also reached the site to assist in the investigation.

Sankhuwasabha's Chief District Officer (CDO) Tek Narayan Poudel apprised Minister for Home Affairs Bal Krishna Khand of the brutal murder of six members of a family. The Home Minister was informed that the murder was carried out using a sharp weapon.

Sept 7: As the investigation was delayed, bodies of six members were sent to Dharan-based BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences for autopsy, according to Mayor Bidur Lithep of Madi Municipality.

The following day, the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) also dispatched a team of security personnel to Madi to probe the incident and make a detailed report. The three-member CIB team led by DSP Rugam Kunwar carried out the investigation of the incident located almost 55 Kilometres away from the district headquarters. Police reportedly used sniffer dogs during the investigation.

Nepal Police Spokesperson and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Basant Bahadur Kunwar had informed that investigation was carried on with the clues traced out at the incident site. Another team of security personnel under the command of SP Bhim Bahadur Dahal from the Federal Police Unit Office, Dharan was also dispatched to the site. After the onsite inspection, the bodies of victims were sent to BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences for the postmortem.

Sept 11: A murder suspect, one of the neighbours of the victims, was arrested. However, police did not reveal the identity of the arrestee. The arrestee also confessed to police that he had committed the crime. 

Sept 12: Police organised a press conference to make public the suspect accused of killing six members of the Karki family. Police paraded Lok Bahadur Karki (26), a nephew of one of the victims Tej Bahadur, according to DSP Subedi at the DPO.

The accused was paraded at a press conference organised at Province 1 Police Office in Chainpur. Police revealed that the motivation behind the cold-blooded murder was to take vengeance on the Karki family. DSP Subedi told NepalNews that the gold jewellery and cash were left untouched.

Police made it clear that the accused had aroused suspicion from day 1 which was confirmed following a house raid where sharp weapons and blood-stained clothes were recovered.

It has been reported that Lok Bahadur committed the cold-blooded murder without any plan. Lok killed all six members of a family in a fit of rage, said the police.

He had allegedly used a log to kill them and later burnt it in his kitchen. The same log of wood was used in killing all six members of the family, informed Chief of Province 1 Police Office, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Arun Kumar BC.

Lok reportedly confessed to police that he killed Tej Bahadur, and after that, he killed other members of the family. "I attacked Tej Bahadur and repeatedly struck him with the log to death," Lok Bahadur said and added that the women were panicked and could not respond. Subsequently, Lok Bahadur struck other members with the log and killed them. Lok Bahadur allegedly killed the minors afterwards. Lok Bahadur also entered Tej Bahadur's mother's (Parbata) room and banged her head on the wall till she breathed her last, according to police. The old woman was said to be cooking kudo (a traditional dish) when she was killed.

According to police, Lok Bahadur only wanted to kill Tej Bahadur. But when the women (Tej Bahadur's wife Kamala and daughter-in-Law Ranjana) saw him in the act of vengeance and shouted for help, he killed other family members to hide his crime.

Lok Bahadur had chased and killed the minors after he saw them coming out of the house, police said. The site where the murder took place is at a distance of 40 metres from the Tej Bahadur's house.

The only member of the Karki family left unharmed is Tej Bahadur's father Boudhaman Karki (85).

Tej Bahadur's son who was in foreign employment in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, arrived home on September 8. According to police, he carried out the last rites of his family members in Itahari Sub-metropolitan City.

Meanwhile, police have made an affidavit following the investigation and have been preparing to present the accused before the District Court for prosecution.