*A postmortem conducted at the District Hospital of Baitadi on Saturday indicated that it could be a case of rape and subsequent murder

DHANGADI, Feb 7: A 17-year-old girl, Bhagarathi Bhatta of Chadepani of Dogadakedar Rural Municipality-7 was raped and murdered on Wednesday.

Those involved in the rape have not been identified yet. "In the preliminary investigation, we have found that Bhatta was taken to Tawalek Community Jungle and murdered after rape while she was returning to home from her school at around 2 pm on Wednesday," said Uttam Subedi, Deputy Inspector General of Nepal Police of Sudur-paschim Province. “Further investigation into the case is going on and the detailed information is yet to be acquired,” he added.

The District Hospital in Baitadi conducted a postmortem of the victim's dead body on Saturday and  indicated that it could be a case of rape and subsequent murder. However, it has yet to be confirmed that it was a gang rape.

Bhatta, a 12th grader student, was spotted by locals at Kochalek Bazzar near her school at around 2 pm on Wednesday for the last time before her murder. She did not return home that evening. The very next day, some girls from the same school found the dead body of Bhatta lying some 50 meters below the road inside a community forest. 

‘Her lower body was naked, there were blood stains on her genitals, wounds on her hand and neck,’ said Shankar Bhatta, the victim's uncle.

Meanwhile, the Nepal Police has expedited the investigation into the incident. A team led by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Janak Raj Pandey has launched probe into the case. Furthermore, a separate team led by DSP at the Central Investigation Bureau has also been assisting the ongoing the investigation, according Chief of the Baitadi District Police, Narayan Prasad Adhikari.

Trained sniffer dogs are also being used to assist the investigation.

Likewise, police have recovered a mobile phone used by late Bhatta, which is expected to help with the investigation.

Meanwhile, Shiva Raj Bhatta, the uncle of late Bhatta, said that the family will not receive the body until the people behind the incident are apprehended. (With few inputs from RSS)

*(Earlier, it was inadvertently reported that a postmortem  conducted at District Hospital of Baitadi on Saturday concluded that the teenager was raped and murdered. The error is regretted. - Editor)

 
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