A police officer involved in the investigations said the gang murdered businessman Ramesh Bhandari and his wife after their plan to loot the couple failed. The couple was shot dead on June 23 at Bishnu Bhandari Stores located at Sangampath, Butwal-6. The gang members had reached Bhandari´s store with the intent pull off a heist, police said. [break]
“We had not planned the murder, but we ended up killing the couple after tension ran high,” police quoted one of the gang members as saying. The gang had planned a series of robberies in Butwal and Bhairahawa, the police official said.
The gang made away with Rs 300,000 from Bhandari stores though there was a total of 1.7 million rupees at the stores when the robbery and murder took place. The gang had the knowledge of regular transactions at the store and had planned to make away with five million rupees, the police official said.
Gautam was in the most wanted list of Nepal Police. He was absconding after perpetrating crimes in cities, including Kathmandu. There are 12 members in the gang -- some of them based in India.
Gautam was arrested in 2002 for robbery but had fled from the police custody. After fleeing, he was briefly associated with Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).
Related story
Gay couple allegedly told to fly separately so straight couple...
