A day after Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa promised to investigate the Bhaktapur “encounter” in which two alleged kidnappers were shot dead, he refuted charges on Monday that the police staged a “fake encounter” to kill the two accused of abducting and murdering an 11-year-old boy.

The home minister reneged on his promise. In a meeting of the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of Parliament on Thursday, Thapa had assured government probe after questions were raised about the handling of the case by police.

Talking to journalists at Bharatpur Airport on Friday, Minister Thapa claimed that police were able to subdue the alleged kidnappers and murderers of Nishan Khadka within 24 hours. Citing information from the Home Ministry, he said the perpetrators were killed in an encounter. “The allegation that police created a fake encounter is baseless,” said Thapa.

On August 5, the 11-year-old was abducted allegedly by Ajay Tamang (24) of Nuwakot, and Gopal Tamang (23) of Sindhupalchok, from Kandaghari, Kathmandu. The duo demanded Rs4 million ransom from his mother Chameli Khadka. After the child was murdered, police killed the duo at Doleshwor forest on Monday afternoon.

Police recovered the child’s body on Monday, buried in a pit dug for a house in Madhyapur Thimi. Questions have been raised over the motive of security teams after local residents reported that the two were captured from a room in Nagadesh, Bhaktapur.