The Metropolitan Crime Division, Teku, on Monday arrested a murder convict from Gongabu, Kathmandu, who had been on the run for the last five years.

Acting on a tip-off, a special team from the division arrested Kamal BK, 25, of Dhading, who had been found guilty by the court of killing Yurung Tamang on January 14, 2015.

“BK in 2015, had murdered Tamang by hitting him with a stone. He had been on the run since,” Superintendent of Police Mukesh Kumar Singh of the division told the Post. “The Patan High Court on 7 July 2015 had convicted BK with the murder and sentenced him to 10 years in prison.”

BK was sent to Kathmandu District Court on Tuesday for necessary action.

While there has been an increase in the arrests of fugitive criminals across the country, Nepal has also witnessed a steady rise in murder cases over the last five years.

As per data provided by the Nepal Police, 5,172 murder cases were filed in the fiscal year 2014/15, while that number rose to 5,367 in the fiscal year 2015/16. It rose further to 5,904 in the fiscal year 2016/17. 

In the fiscal year 2017/18, the number of murder cases in the country reached 6,405. However, the number of murders saw a marginal decline to 6,233 in the fiscal year 2018/19.