KATHMANDU, Sept 30: Giving up any hope of finding missing former home minister Madav Prasad Ghimire and his two brothers, their family members on Friday performed the final rites for them at Pashupati Aryaghat.
Ghimire had gone missing along with other two family members after the jeep they were traveling in plunged into the Trishuli River six days ago.
After the authorities failed to find their bodies almost one week after the accident, their family members decided to carry out the final rites of all three brothers--Madhav, Prakash and Mohan--presuming them dead, said Keshav Ghimire, a family member.
Bhatta’s final rites are being performed today, 17 days after h...
He said that the family members used Kush grass to represent each of the missing and cremated them as per Hindu rites.
Apart from the three missing brothers, family members also creamed 80-year-old mother of Ghimire, Chaitanya Kumari on Friday.
Home Minister Bimalendra Nidhi, Nepal Police Chief Inspector General Upendra Kant Aryal, political leaders, senior government officials and former government officials were present at the funeral.
Former Home Minister Ghimire had left for Muktinath on September 21 to perform sharadda, an annual ritual held to pay tribute to the deceased ancestors, in Kagbeni. He was traveling with his mother, two brothers, a nephew and a body guard. While returning to the capital, the jeep veered off the road at Ghoptebhir, Chitwan of Prithivi Highway and plunged into the Trishuli River.
While Chaitanya Kumari Ghimire, the mother of the former minister, Sub Inspector Ram Chandra Karki, his body guard, and Narayan Prasad Kafle, his nephew, died on the spot, former minister Ghimire and his two brothers went missing.
Chief District Officer of Chitwan Binod Prakash Singh said that the search operation to find the missing is still on. “Our search team has located a vehicle in the river but we don't know whether the vehicle is the same one Ghimire had been traveling in,” he said.
“I doubt the search operation will continue for too long now that the family members have already performed their final rites. The government had said that it would bring divers from Bangladesh to carry out the search but it has proven wrong,” he said.
