Police have directed effort toward rescuing the doctor, who has been missing since Tuesday night, alive but have now split their force toward micro investigation and rescue. The administration has mobilized a team with sniffer dogs on the bank of Trishuli river where Dr Shrestha´s briefcase was found. [break]
"We started with sniffer dogs from Sunday morning after no clue was found through the exhaustive search on Saturday," said acting chief of Area Police Post, Mugling, Bikash Adhikari. The police have deduced that Dr Shrestha may no longer be alive after finding his briefcase near Ghopte Bhir along the Narayanghat-Mungling road section.
"We are focusing on search but have yet to find any clue linking Pokhara [where his car was found] and Chitwan," Chief District Officer (CDO) of Chitwan Basanta Raj Gautam said. Chitwan Police Chief Dhiru Basnet claimed that the case has become more mysterious due to finding of Dr Shrestha´s car in Pokhara and briefcase in Trishuli.
The government has also sent a team led by Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Ramesh Phuyal along with two superintendents of police to Chitwan to help investigations.
Meanwhile, Dr Shrestha´s family has promised to meet all demands of the abductors and pleaded for his safe release. "We are ready to meet all sorts of demands," Dr Shrestha´s wife Sheelu said. She guessed that her husband may have been abducted due to dissatisfaction over his handling of hospital affairs.
"My father has never done any wrong deeds. Please help in finding him soon. If a person doing noble deeds is punished in such a way, the number of good people in the world will go down," his daughter Julia said.
Dr Shrestha´s octogenarian father Chandra Man and mother Mishri are also eagerly waiting for his son´s safe return. "We made him a doctor by working in the fields. He had promised to never give any trouble to us but his sudden abduction has caused immense distress," mother Mishri confided.
The family has also slammed the government for failing to find him even after six days.
Strike affects services
All health services except the emergency and indoor services were halted across the country Sunday due to the strike called by Nepal Medical Association (NMA) demanding safe release of Dr Shrestha.
Thousands of patients and their relatives who didn´t have prior knowledge of the strike were hit hard by the strike that affected all private and public health institutions across the country. The strike also affected medical colleges and private clinics and nursing homes.
Meanwhile, the NMA has given a 72-hour ultimatum to the government to find the whereabouts of Dr Shrestha. "We will start an indefinite strike stopping all but emergency and indoor services from Wednesday if his whereabouts are not disclosed by the government," NMA President Dr Kedar Narsingh KC warned.
Meanwhile, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has expressed its concerns over the nationwide closure of hospitals Sunday saying it further deprived the use of health rights of the service recipients. Issuing a press statement, it also urged the government to find out the status of Dr Shrestha as soon as possible.
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