The Central Investigation Bureau on Thursday arrested a rape convict who had been on the run for the past four years from Suryabinayak, Bhaktapur.

A special team of the Central Investigation Bureau arrested Purna Bahadur Khadka, 56, of Singha Devi in Okhaldhunga from Sipadol-6 in Bhaktapur and took him to the Bhaktapur District Court. Khadka had been convicted on a rape charge by the Patan High Court on November 12, 2018.

“Khadka had raped a mentally ill 15-year-old minor in March 2016,” said Superintendent of Police Bel Bahadur Pandey, the spokesperson for the Bureau.

“The Patan High Court had convicted Khadka in absentia and sentenced him to 2.5 years in jail,” said Pandey.

Khadka has been sent to Dillibazar Prison, said Pandey.

In the fiscal year 2018/19, a total of 1,873 rape cases were registered across the country, police data show.

The data shows that despite having strict laws, the number of rape cases has seen a sharp rise in recent years. There were altogether 1,093 cases of rape in 2015/16, which rose to 1,137 in the following fiscal year 2016/17.

In the fiscal year 2017/18, the number of rape cases registered by Nepal Police across the country reached 1,480. The Nepal Police data shows that there has been a 70 percent increase in the number of rape cases since 2015/16.

“The Nepal Police has been taking strict actions to curb such crimes,” said Deputy Inspector General Shailesh Thapa Kshetri, the spokesperson for the Nepal Police.