Police constable Urmila Shrestha, who lost her life in a violent attack in Letang of Morang district on March 20, died of gunshot wounds, revealed the post-mortem report submitted to Morang District Court.

The document submitted to the District Government Attorney Office, Morang also confirmed the discovery of a bullet in her body during post-mortem.

Police had fired a few rounds in the air to control the clash.

However, according to the test report of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory of the Nepal Police, the bullet that killed constable Shrestha was different from the one used by the police.

According to the police report submitted at the District Government Attorney Office, Morang, the mob attacked the deceased with a stone, a sharp weapon and used a gun to kill her. The police are, however, yet to recover the weapons, including the gun, used by the mob.

Superintendent Shanti Ram Koirala, chief of District Police Office Morang, said that the person who shot the gun was not identified during the investigation so the police filed a case under murder charge and handed over the accused people to the court.

The site of the attack on Shrestha is Dharane Chowk, about 1.5 km south of Shiksha Bikas Secondary School in Kheruwa. According to local Jung Bahadur Shrestha, the clash took place sometime between 8:30 pm and 10:30 pm. According to him, the mob surrounded the police from three directions.

According to SP Koirala, 10 bullet casings were found at the scene.

“Although it has been confirmed that Shrestha died of bullet wounds, the source of the firing is not yet determined. The incident took place at night so identification of the culprit(s) is still unknown,” said Koirala.

“We will send another report later when the shooter is identified,” said Koirala.

The incident in Letang took place when the police were deployed at Shiksha Bikas Secondary School to arrest a teacher accused of sexually harrasing a 12-year-old student. According to the student, the teacher had gone to her house during Holi and sexually harassed her.

Following the victim’s complaint, a meeting between the teachers and guardians was called at the school premises. The meeting decided that the accused teacher be handed over to the police for further action. The teachers had called the police to the school premises to arrest the accused but the agitated mob outside the school tried to stop the police from taking the accused to the police station. The mob wanted the school to hand over the teacher to them.

Shrestha was killed during the clash that soon erupted between the mob and the police officials who were trying to control the situation.

A 14-year-old boy arrested in connection to the case was handed over to his parents on Tuesday.

A single bench of Justice Shishir Raj Dhakal of the Morang District Court ordered the police to hand over the minor to his guardians, said court official Tikendrabir Jung Rana. According to him, the juvenile was not sent to a correctional facility since there is no juvenile correctional centre in the district.

Meanwhile, the District Public Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday filed a case against 15 people, including five absconding persons, demanding life imprisonment on the basis of the police report handed over by the Morang Police, said Hem Bahadur Budathoki, information officer at the court. According to Budathoki, the hearing on the incident will start from Sunday.