The family of 13-year-old girl Nirmala Panta, who was raped and subsequently murdered in Bhimdutta Municipality-18, Kanchanpur, has refused to receive her body, demanding that the authorities first bring the perpetrators to justice.

The teenager’s body was found in a sugarcane field at Nibukheta along the Mahendranagar-Ultakham road on Friday.

She had left her home on Thursday to meet her friend. Her family had filed a missing persons report with police after she did not return home until late evening.

When Nirmala’s body was discovered on Friday, her relatives and neighbours took to the street demanding that the perpetrators are arrested and punished.

They also accused police and Bhimdutta Municipality Mayor Surendra Bista of showing no urgency to search Nirmala or initiate investigate her gruesome death.

Nirmala’s body has been kept at the Mahakali Zonal Hospital.

Meanwhile, her relatives and locals of Bhimdutta-18 are exerting pressure on the authorities to arrest the guilty.

Repeated talks between the local administration and Nirmala’s relatives have failed to yield any agreement. Her family has demanded strong action against the persons behind her death, adequate compensation and a police beat at Nimbukheda.

Chief District Officer Kumar Bahadur Khadka said though the girl’s family had agreed to perform her final rites after the local administration agreed to book the culprits and establish a police beat at Nimbukheda, they later called off the deal due to the pressure of locals.

He said the locals assembled at the hospital and stopped the girl’s family from receiving her body.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Gyan Bahadur Sethi said six suspects had been arrested in connection to the case. A team from the Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police has also reached the district for investigation.