The dacoits did not spare even a 90-year-old woman, Hari Kala Subedi, while looting the houses of Chuda Mani Poudel and Trilochan Subedi. The frail Hari Kala has suffered a head injury. [break]
Two other local women, Mukti Devi Poudel and Manju Subedi, are seriously injured. They have been sent to Kathmandu after doctors failed to treat them in Birgunj.
Madan Sapkota and Yashoda Poudel, grade eight and 12 students respectively, were also injured. They were attending a tuition class in the neighborhood when the dacoits stormed the village in the night.
Madan, who was to appear in exams Wednesday, and Yashoda are now undergoing treatment at Narayani Sub Regional Hospital in Birgunj. Bindu Subedi and Chuda Mani Poudel were also injured in the attack.
Police phone was dead
The dacoits easily fled the village after looting the two houses as the locals could not contact Simara Area Police Office, which was two kilometers away. The phone at the police office was dead for two days.
"We tried calling the local police office for some time. As we failed to establish contact, we contacted the police in Kathmandu. The Kathmandu police got in touch with the Simara police through Bara District Police Office," Gokul Poudel, a local, told Republica. "Therefore, it took the local police 55 minutes to reach our village. By the time the police arrived, the dacoits had already fled."
According to poudel, the dacoits looted Chuda Mani´s house at 11:30 pm and Trilochan´s house at 12:15 pm but the police reached there only at 12:35. The dacoits had looted five tolas gold, Rs 15,000 in cash and two mobile sets. They also snatched ornaments from local women.
"Our phone has been dead for the last two days. Unfortunately, the robbery happened when our phone was not functioning," says KP Sharma, inspector of Simara police office. According to Sharma, police have arrested 15 suspects for interrogation.
A gang of thugs had killed a jewelry shop owner and looted half a dozen houses in a village of Siraha district barely a week ago. In the Siraha robbery case too the locals had accused police of not swinging into action despite repeated calls.
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