Police begin a new investigation into the rape and murder case of Nirmala Panta

A seven-member high-level special committee headed by Additional Inspector General (AIG) Dipak Thapa has been established by the police to look into Nirmala Panta‘s rape and subsequent murder. Superintendent of Police (SP) Hobindra Bogati and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Bhupendra Khatri from the Crime Investigation Department (CID) are also on the committee.

SP Bogati claims that the committee has already begun gathering evidence for the inquiry. “Since the case occurred years ago, we have been contacting the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB)’s former investigating officers since Tuesday in order to obtain recommendations and comprehensive information about the case,” he stated.

Over six years have passed since 13-year-old Panta, a ninth-grader from Bhimdattapanta Municipality-2 in Kanchanpur, was discovered raped and then killed in a sugarcane field close to her home on July 27, 2018, the day after she vanished. Panta had left home to meet her friend Roshani Bam.

After six years and six separate investigative teams, the case is still widely discussed as a tragic unresolved mystery in Nepali history, raising doubts about the competence and reliability of the Nepal Police’s investigation process.

After a team of local police officers initially refused to look for Panta after her parents reported her missing, they tainted the crime scene by washing the victims’ pants while on camera, which infuriated the public and went viral on social media. This was the beginning of the public’s skepticism of the police investigation.

The public’s skepticism turned into outright mistrust when a group of CIB police officials, led by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Angur GC, asserted in advance that local Dilip Bista was the culprit based on “confession,” only to have the local’s DNA sample contradict the victim’s samples. Subsequent National Human Rights Commission assessments cast doubt on the validity of the victim’s DNA sample, suggesting that its male component may be tainted or not even belonged to the offender.

Then, because of local suspicions that the sisters were engaged in the crime, police arrested Bam and her sister; however, they were later released since there was insufficient evidence. Khem Bhandari, the editor and publisher of a local news journal who had diverted the public’s attention from Bista to the Bam sisters, was subsequently discovered to be Bista’s relative.

The police investigation into the case was so chaotic that the government was forced to establish a probe committee headed by Hari Prasad Mainali, the director general of the Department of Prison Management at the time. This committee recommended the transfer of Chief District Officer Kumar Bahadur Khadka and SP Dilli Raj Bista, the chief of the District Police Office in Kanchanpur. Additionally, DSP GC was one of five investigating officers suspended.

Durga Devi, Panta’s mother, filed a formal complaint against eight investigating officers in January 2019 for destroying evidence. While SP Bista and DSP GC only turned themselves in at the district court after the six cops were released on bail, the other six were arrested right away and sent to court.

The rape and murder case has become a dark stain in the Nepal Police’s investigative history due to several instances of police ineptitude. In order to successfully apprehend the criminals, SP Bogati informed Republica that the newly formed investigation committee will first examine the shortcomings in earlier police investigations by questioning the investigating officers and try to fix them.

“The goal of this investigation is to identify the shortcomings of the earlier investigations and make amends,” he stated.