KATHAMNDU, Feb 22: A man committed suicide after killing his wife, daughter and granddaughter in Swayambhu, Nagarjun Municipality-6, Kathmandu, on Wednesday. According to the police, Raju Ghimire (Kaji BK), 37, who hails from Dudh Kunda Municipality-10 of Solukhumbu and was living in Swayambhu Bhairab Tole killed his wife Ishwari Shrestha (Premkumari Shrestha), 38, eight-year-old daughter Anisha Shrestha and two-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter Shivani Shrestha. 

Raju was Ishwari’s second husband. The murdered two-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter is the daughter of her first husband's son. According to the police, Ishwari's first husband's son and daughter were also living in Swayambhu along with Ishwari and Raju. The son was currently abroad, the daughter-in-law had gone out for work on Wednesday morning. Present at home were Anish, 15-year-old son, Anisha, eight-year-old daughter, his biological children and granddaughter Shivani.

The conclusion of the police is that Raju sent his son Anish out to buy groceries early in the morning, and then attacked and killed his wife, daughter, and granddaughter with homemade weapons.

After the gruesome murders, Anish reached the room. After that, Raju made Anish record a video on his mobile phone and gave a statement to prove the murder, the police said. In the video, he conveyed messages to his relatives, son, who was abroad, and his daughter-in-law.

After shooting the video, Raju left the room with a rope saying that he was going to commit suicide by hanging himself. At the same time, he also sent a message to his mother-in-law's (Ishwari's mother)'s and relatives through telephone saying that he had killed his wife, daughter and granddaughter and that he was going to commit suicide. Then, Anish also rushed to his maternal uncle’s house.

Ishwari's maternal home informed the police about the incident upon receiving such a message. After the information, the police team and relatives arrived at the scene. Although the bodies of the deceased were found in the room, Raju was not found there. At around 11:40AM, the police reported that he was found hanging from a tree in the forest near White Gumba, Nagarjun Municipality-5.

The police have concluded that Raju committed suicide after killing his wife, daughter, and grand-daughter. "Upon examining the details of the incident and the evidence gathered, it appears that Raju was the culprit," said District Police Spokesperson, Superintendent of Police (SP) Nabraj Adhikari. He further added, "The police are still conducting a thorough investigation."

Link to rape case and male 'ego'

The preliminary investigation by the police has shown that the probable cause of this incident which resulted in the death of four people may be linked to 'rape'. Prior to the incident, Ishwari, who was found murdered had filed a police complaint against a 51-year-old man alleging rape.

Two months after the rape incident was reported, the police had initiated legal proceedings against the accused. On February 13, the Kathmandu District Court ordered the accused to post a bail of Rs 500,000 in this case.

A police officer active in the investigation of the incident has speculated that Raju may have experienced ‘ego hurt’ due to the same rape incident and could have committed the crime. “Somewhere the cause of this incident may be connected with the rape case. Before that, there did not seem to be any big dispute or fight between them," says a police officer who is investigating the rape incident and Wednesday's incident. On Tuesday night, it seems that there was some quarrel between the husband and the wife,” said the police officer.

However,  the official said that both of them came together and filed a complaint, following the rape case.

 
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