The body of the eight-year old school-boy was found in a well near his home, ten days after his abduction on December 16. The boy was studying at the local Reliance English School.
The arrested is identified as Ashok Tamang, 25, of Duwagadhi-8, Jhapa. Tamang had been working as a house painter in the Kapan area for the past several years, and was close to the victim and his family, police said.
Police have recovered Rs 152,000 of the total Rs 200,000 ransom paid by the Katawal family, along with a mobile set worth Rs 24,500.
A police investigation team led by deputy superintendent of police Thakur Prasad Gyawali has concluded that the accused murdered the boy before he had even begun bargaining for ransom over the phone. Tamang initially demanded Rs 500,000, but agreed to take Rs 200,000 as per the family’s request.Addressing a press conference organized at the Metropolitan Police Commissioner’s Office, Ranipokhari, additional inspector general Ramesh Kumar Shrestha, said Police arrested Tamang in Jhapa. He, however, said that they were still making investigations as to how many persons were behind the heinous murder of the tender-aged child.
Shrestha said Tamang had taken the boy on the pretext of giving him chocolates and Kurkure, before he was detained in a deep well nearby. Interestingly, Tamang had been pretending to help the victim’s family trace the boy, until the family paid the ransom to his ‘unknown’ abductors.
The victim’s family smelled a rat and informed the police when Tamang shifted from his rented room in Kapan a day after the ransom amount was paid.
Related story
Delay in culvert construction leads to inundation in Kapan
-1200x560-1774606010.webp)
