KANCHANPUR, March 26: A day after the District Court (DC), Kanchanpur, released sacked Superintendent of Police (SP) Dilli Raj Bista on bail, suspended Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) Angur GC surrendered himself before the court on Monday.

DSP GC is among the eight cops accused of tampering with evidence and torturing the suspects of Nirmala Panta rape and murder case. Police Inspector Dinesh Acharya informed Republica that GC has been kept under the custody of Kanchanpur Police Office (KPO). The court started recording DSP GC’s statement from Monday and will continue that until Tuesday, says the court’s Registrar Harikrishna Awasthi.

After recording his statement, police will start preliminary discussion on whether to keep him under custody or release him on bail. As GC remained out o contact for a long time, the court had issued a warrant against GC and sacked SP Bista to present themselves before the court within 35 days.

On March 19, Bista had presented himself before the court. However, on Sunday, DC freed him demanding to post a bail amount of Rs. 400,000 for destroying evidence and Rs 600,000 for torturing the suspects.

On July 21, 2018, DSP GC reached Kanchanpur for investigating Nirmala Panta rape and murder case. As per the investigation conducted by the team including GC, mentally challenged suspect Dilip Bista, 41, was declared a culprit. Police made him public on August 20.

However, Dilip was released later as his DNA did not match with the vaginal swab of the victim. His brother Khadka later filed a complaint against four cops for torturing his brother during the investigation. 

On March 6, the Office of the Attorney General registered a FIR against eight police personnel including the SP Bista and DSP GC for tampering with evidence and torturing the suspects. Two months ago,   Nirmala’s mother Durgadevi Panta had filed a complaint against eight police personnel for destroying the evidence in her daughter’s case. Following that, SP Bista and Inspector Ekendra Khadka were sacked from their posts.

On March 14, six police personnel who surrendered themselves to the court were released on bail following the order of the court.  

Thirteen years old Nirmala was found dead in a sugarcane field in Kanchanpur. Even after such a long time, police have failed to find any strong evidence against anyone in the case.

 
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