Six members of the same family were found dead at Kholagaun of Madi Municipality-1 in Sankhuwasabha district on Monday morning.

According to the District Police Office, 55-year-old Tej Bahadur Karki, his 50-year old wife Kamala Karki; his 88-year-old mother Parbati Karki, his 25-year-old daughter-in-law Ranjana Karki, and his two grandchildren aged 11 and three were brutally killed.

Tej Bahadur’s father, Baudaman Karki, who is in his 90s and hard of hearing and poor eyesight, was unhurt in the incident.

According to Deputy Superintendent of Police Laldhwaj Subedi, an unidentified group of assailants murdered six members of Tej Bahadur Karki’s family of Kholaguan.

“The incident took place either on Sunday night or early Monday morning,” said Subedi. “The assailants seem to have used sharp weapons in the crime. A police team reached the site of the incident on Monday morning and initiated their investigation.”

The investigation officers, however, have not reached any conclusion in the murders and those behind the crime, said Subedi.

Yogendra Ojha, a local school teacher, said the bodies were found scattered near the house. According to him, the villagers came to know about the incident on Monday morning. “It was around 10am that their mutilated bodies were discovered in different locations around the house,” he said.

According to Ojha, the victims might have been chased and murdered. “Tej Bahadur’s body was found on the road a few metres from the house while his wife and daughter-in-law were found murdered in the nearby stream. The bodies of the grandchildren were found in the field above the house,” he said.

Tej Bahadur’s octogenarian mother was lying dead inside the house, he added. The area has been sealed by police personnel.

“The bodies will be collected on Tuesday for postmortem,” said DSP Subedi.

Khemnath Katuwal, chairman of Madi Municipality Ward No. 1, said he was made aware of the incident by Lamxi Bhakta Karki, one of Tej Bahadur’s neighbours, at around 10am.

“I called the Area Police Office in Chainpur and informed them about the incident,” said Katuwal.

The Area Police Office in Chainpur is 55 kilometres east of Kholagaun. A team of police investigators led by Bhim Dahal, superintendent of police from the Federal Police Unit Office in Dharan, has been deployed for investigation with a sniffer dog.

“Police personnel have been kept on high alert to hunt down the perpetrators. The areas where the bodies were found have been cordoned off. Security has been tightened at all entry and exit points of Kholagaun and security checks are being conducted at the district border points,” said Chief District Officer of Sankhuwasabha Tek Narayan Paudel.

According to ward chairman Katuwal, Karki’s family is a farming family. Tek Bahadur has two sons, Naresh and Ramesh, both abroad on foreign employment.

“Naresh is in Malaysia and Ramesh in Dubai,” said Katuwal. “We have informed both of them. Ramesh’s wife was one of the murder victims.”