The four army personnel posted in Pokhara had made off with Rs 100,000 and some gold after the killings on February 10. The identity of Tara Balami from Gulmi has been disclosed and he is currently in police custody while investigations into the other three are ongoing. [break]
“The involvement of army personnel in the murders has been uncovered but their identities have yet to be disclosed,” Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) at Lumbini Zonal Police Office at Bhairahawa, Kesh Bahadur Shahi, said. “We will disclose the actual details after some time. Let´s not say anything now,” said SSP Shahi, who is also coordinator of the committee investigating the Thimure incident.
Police have yet to disclose the identity of the remaining three long after the main culprit has been nabbed. “Our plan was to disclose it through a press conference. I don´t know why it has been delayed as I was out of the district for training,” Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) in Palpa Pawan Kumar Giri said.
Police officers claim that involvement of security personnel in the murders has delayed the investigation. “How can we investigate people in army uniform in front of their own officers,” a police officer argued and claimed that the Nepal Army has not cooperated in the investigations.
The officers claim that the disclosing of details of the mid-February incident has been delayed due to the involvement of army personnel although police already have a file with evidence of the involvement of armymen. “We have found that army soldiers have been involved but the police have not said what they are doing,” said Shiva Khakurel, coordinator of the NGO INSEC for the western region, attributing the delay in investigations to involvement of the army.
The army has said that it cannot say anything about the incident as investigations are ongoing. “We have not found anything and cannot say anything now,” said chief of Western Brigade at Pokhara Nara Bahadur Kandel.
“It has been uncovered that Balami had an affair with a woman who was killed long before he joined the army. Nothing else has been uncovered and we cannot accuse anyone without proof,” Kandel added.
He conceded that some army personnel were sent to Palpa at police request to help in the investigations but didn´t reveal which battalion Balami served in.
Yam Kumari Bagale, 55, her daughter Tulasa, 27, Tulasa´s eight-year-old daughter Sandhya and five-year-old son Sanjeev were killed in Thimure on February 10. Tulasa, who lived in Kusumkhola, had come to her parental home with her children.
Tulasa was introduced to Balami through her friend Srijana Pariyar, also of Kusumkhola, and they been in love with each other for the last one and half years. Pariyar said Balami had come along with three fellow-army personnel to Thimure on the day of the murders and had asked about Tulasa´s parental home. “They had come by bus and I showed them the house. I am not involved in the murder,” Pariyar has said in her statement to police.
“They threatened to finish me off I disclosed them to anyone and I was in hiding out of fear of the police,” Pariyar added. She was arrested two weeks after the incident and investigations against the four armymen was initiated on the basis of her statement.
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