- Police recover Khyati´s head
- ´Khyati killed within 24 hours of abduction´
- Khyati murder: Accused revealed
- Girl´s body found 17 days after her kidnapping
Police investigation officials arrived at this conclusion after learning about Shrestha´s typical modus operandi in kidnapping and killing teenage girls and hearing the conflicting details he divulged during interrogations.
"We do believe that the latest killing must not be the first crime of this nature he has committed," said Superintendent of Police Nawa Raj Silwal, chief of Metropolitan Police Range Office, Kathmandu. "We have now begun investigating whether there is a link with unsolved cases of a similar nature in the past."[break]
Police turned suspicious over Shrestha´s past involvement as there are some cases of a similar nature in Kathmandu Valley that remain unsolved. "The way body parts have been cut off and disposed of in cartons at different locations matches exactly with cases we have came across in the past," said a police investigation officer, asking to be unnamed.
The officer said they strongly feel that Shrestha could be linked with unsolved cases of a similar nature given that he has shown no remorse over his crime even after his arrest. It is simply impossible for a rookie crook to commit this kind of heinous crime, he said.
Police have recovered a bottle containing acid from Shrestha´s rented apartment at Khusibu and found that he had used the acid in an effort to disfigure Khyati´s face beyond recognition. They have also recovered sharp weapons he used to dismember the body.
Police have credible evidence that Shrestha was planning yet another murder. And the intended victim was none other than his accomplice Merina Shakya*, the only person who knew about the kidnapping and subsequent murder of Khyati. "She could have been murdered by now had we failed to bring him into our net," claimed the police officer. "This just makes us conclude that he could have been into similar crime before."
Radha, the mother of Khyati, happened to notice Shrestha when she reached Kakarbhitta on June 17 to pay the ransom for her daughter´s released. Unaware of Radha´s arrival at the hotel where he asked to be paid the ransom, Shrestha was ordering a chow-mien when she saw him.
Radha had then informed police that Shrestha could be behind the murder, enabling the police to arrest him on June 20 from Sorhakhutte, Kathmandu.
Interestingly, investigations so far have found that Shrestha did not take help from others for the actual murder and disposal of body parts. "The body could have been dismembered to make it easy for disposal," said the investigation official.
* (Corrected)
koshraj@myrepublica.com
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