Police have concluded that the killing of Ishwori Bhujel, a senior warrant officer in the Nepali Army, by her husband Kumar Thapa Magar, a social media personality widely known on TikTok as “Nepali Bro”, was motivated by his extramarital relationship.

Following an investigation into the fatal stabbing of Bhujel on the night of June 5, the Kathmandu District Police Range concluded that Thapa’s relationship with another woman, Pratikshya Acharya, was the primary motive behind the murder.

Police have also sought to prosecute Acharya as a co-defendant, alleging that she was involved in the crime. Investigators submitted their report, along with their recommendations, to the District Attorney’s Office.

After reviewing the investigation file, government prosecutors on Wednesday filed murder charges at the Kathmandu District Court against Thapa, Acharya and others named in the case.

According to the charge sheet, “Repeated disputes arose between the husband and wife over Kumar Thapa’s romantic relationship with Pratikshya Acharya. He regularly assaulted his wife and subjected her to physical and psychological abuse.”

The investigation states that although Thapa repeatedly signed written agreements promising to end his relationship with Acharya, the two continued to meet and communicate by phone. To support that claim, prosecutors submitted call detail records showing frequent conversations between the pair, along with a video recording.

According to the indictment, as the marital dispute intensified, Bhujel also filed a complaint accusing Thapa of marital rape.

“After that case was filed, our relationship deteriorated further. I had almost stopped going home,” Thapa told police in a statement recorded in the presence of government prosecutors. “While the case was pending before the court, I asked my wife to become hostile during her testimony and at the hearings so we could settle the case.”

Thapa claimed Bhujel refused. Instead, she filed for divorce at the Kathmandu District Court.

He told investigators that after the divorce case was filed, he had not met Acharya for about a month and had only spoken to her over the phone.

Bhujel, however, neither trusted him nor withdrew the legal cases.

On June 5, hearings in both the marital rape and divorce cases had been scheduled for the same day. According to investigators, Thapa had already planned to kill his wife.

Murder on the day of the divorce hearing

At around 9:30 pm on June 5, the area around Paiyutar in ward 6 of Tarkeshwar Municipality, where Bhujel lived, was quiet.

According to prosecutors, Thapa was waiting there carrying a knife with the intention of killing her.

Bhujel, who was serving with the Nepali Army Band Company, was returning home on her scooter after completing her duty. Investigators said Thapa followed her in a car.

When Bhujel stopped her scooter a short distance from her house, Thapa approached from behind, grabbed her and slashed her throat with the knife.

“I grabbed her from behind as if hugging her, and I stabbed her with the sharp knife. She collapsed,” Thapa said in his confession. “After that, I was arrested while heading towards the police office at Balaju.”

Police also collected CCTV footage from the scene, which they said shows Thapa waiting inside a parked car before getting out and following Bhujel shortly before the attack.

According to Kathmandu police, Thapa threw away the knife after the killing. During the investigation, officers recovered the nine-inch knife from the roadside. The T-shirt he was wearing at the time of his arrest was stained with blood.

During questioning, Thapa said he had spent the entire day waiting for his wife to appear in court for the scheduled hearing. He claimed he left disappointed after she did not appear.

According to his statement, after leaving the court he went to the Balaju-based recondition house of an acquaintance, Pujan Thapa Chhetri, where he stayed for some time.

He later attended a sporting event in Kirtipur before returning to Balaju. In the evening, he had snacks with another friend, Suman Thapa, and returned to the reconditioned house.

At around 7:30 pm, he left saying he was going to the gym. Instead, investigators said, he drove directly to his home in Paiyutar.

There, he attempted to take his younger son, Ivan, outside. However, a woman employed at the house refused to let the child go with him.

Thapa claimed he became upset. He further said that after his elder son, Jenis, also told him to leave the house, he became angry and distressed.

According to investigators, he then drove away, waited along Bhujel’s route home and carried out the attack.

Relationship began in the army

According to the charge sheet, Thapa first met Bhujel while serving in the Nepali Army.

After joining the army around 2004-05, he became acquainted with Bhujel, then a soldier. The two fell in love while undergoing bugle training at the Army Band Company and married around 2010.

Social media fame and growing marital conflict

Investigators said Thapa’s growing popularity on social media marked a turning point in his personal life.

Around three to four years ago, he began posting TikTok videos under the name “Nepali Bro”. His videos featuring cars, motorcycles, social messages and entertainment quickly attracted a large following.

Statements from witnesses and family members included in the charge sheet suggest that his online popularity gradually strained the couple’s marriage.

As Thapa increasingly collaborated with different women for his videos, disputes between him and Bhujel became more frequent.

In his statement, Thapa admitted that TikTok had introduced him to many women.

“After I became viral on social media, I met and got to know many female friends,” he said. “To increase my views, I uploaded videos with different women. My wife did not like that. She became suspicious, and that is how our family disputes began.”

Although the couple later reconciled, investigators said Thapa became acquainted with Pratikshya Acharya during that period.

He later appointed Acharya as the event manager for his wrestling events.

The charge sheet states that around May-June 2025, Thapa uploaded videos introducing Acharya as his girlfriend while acknowledging that they were in a romantic relationship. Bhujel subsequently filed a complaint at the Balaju Police Circle.

“We later reached a settlement and agreed that I would not repeat such mistakes,” Thapa said in his statement. “But after we started talking again, my wife found out. Around two to two-and-a-half months ago, my wife, my son, the girl working at our house and another aunt assaulted me inside my room.”

He said he subsequently lodged a complaint with the Kathmandu District Police Range.

According to his statement, following mediation between both parties, he signed another written commitment agreeing not to meet Acharya or maintain any relationship with her.

After that, the couple began living separately inside the same house, with Thapa staying on the ground floor and Bhujel living upstairs.