Bodies of two herb pickers found

POKHARA, July 4: The bodies of two of the seven yarchagumba pickers from Keraunja VDC of Gorkha who went missing in Manang around three weeks ago have been found on Saturday morning.

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The police said the bodies of the two who reportedly died after falling from a cliff while fleeing were found at a gorge of Lapsebhir but the bodies are yet to be identified. Chief of the Gandaki Zonal Police Office SSP Bhaktinath Majhi said arrangement was being made to bring the bodies to Manang district headquarters Chame. [break]

Locals from Narca had surrounded the youths from Gorkha and hacked five of them to death accusing them of stealing the aphrodisiac herb from Narca while the two had managed to escape.

“From primary investigation, we have found that the two were pushed from the cliff,” revealed Manang CDO Ramraj Subedi.

The police said they found only bones and skins of the other five who were buried after being hacked. Majhi said the killers might have shifted the bodies from the spot and that additional force has been mobilized from Pokhara to find the missing bodies.

The police have arrested a few villagers in connection with the case but have not revealed their identities.

The Manang district administration has requested the people from Keraunja village, who want to join the search for the bodies, not to do so. “We have asked them not to come in groups as it can invite danger,” Subedi said.

The families of Dhruba Gurung, 17, Gyan Bahadur Gurung, 32, Bir Bahadur Gurung, 16, Shobhar Gurung, 18, Kanchha Gurung, 27, Kami Gurung, 17, from Keraunja-1 and 17-year-old Aitaram Gurung from Keraunja-2 were informed about their death only on Thursday.

Gyan Bahadur and Bir Bahadur, among the killed, were siblings and the latter was an eighth grader at the Keraunja Lower Secondary School.

Yarchagumba picker Man Bahadur Gurung had first phoned relatives at Keraunja from Manang telling that people from Narca village had killed the youths. The police had intensified investigation only after the relatives lodged an official complaint against the Narca villagers at the Manang District Administration Office.

Only Gyan Bahadur and Kanchha are married among the seven and both have a son and daughter each under five years of age.

Locals in Keraunja said that hundreds of youths from Gorkha used to go to Pisang, Khangsar and Jhyaru villages of Manang every year but would not go to Lapselek hearing that locals there would not allow others to pick yarchagumba.