The Kanchanpur District Court on Thursday ordered bail release of six police officials who were arrested on charge of evidence tampering and torturing an innocent man to extract false confession in connection to the rape and murder case of 13-year-old Nirmala Pant.

A single bench of Judge Rajendra Kumar Acharya ordered the authorities to release Deputy Superintendent of Police Gyan Bahadur Shetty and Inspector Ekendra Khadka after they have posted the bail amount of Rs 900,000 each.

According to Rudra Prasad Bogati, a court official, Judge Acharya also ordered the release of Inspector Jagadish Prasad Bhatta for a bail of Rs 400,000.

Sub-inspector duo, Hari Singh Dhami and Ram Singh Dhami, and Constable Chanani Saud were also granted bail in sums of Rs 350,000, Rs 300,000 and Rs 250,000 respectively.

“The court has initiated legal procedure against those who failed to appear before the court,” Bogati said. “A 35-day notice has also been issued against the absconding defendants to present themselves before the court.”

The then chief of Kanchanpur district police SP Dilliraj Bista, who was dismissed for mishandling the case, and suspended DSP Angur GC did not appear before the court.

The Office of District Attorney at Kanchanpur District Court on Wednesday had lodged a case against eight police officials for their involvement in torture and evidence destruction while investigating into Nirmala’s rape and murder. Six of them were presented before the court and then taken into custody immediately.  

Earlier on December 18, Durga Devi, mother of Nirmala, had filed a public offence case against Dilli Raj Bista and seven other police officials for destroying evidence.

Khadak Singh Bista, brother of Dilip Singh Bista, who was arrested, tortured and paraded as the main accused in the case, had also filed a case at the district police against Bista, GC, Shetty and Khadka charging them with custody torture.

Nirmala was raped and murdered on July 26 last year in Bhimdutta Municipality, Kanchanpur.

Eight months after the incident, police are still clueless about the culprit(s).