Six people have been arrested in connection with the murder of a 17-year-old girl in Rautahat. Among the arrested are the victim's father and mother.

According to the police, the murder of the girl is a case of “honour” killing.

Police said their investigation has shown that the victim's father had paid some henchmen money to kill his 17-year-old daughter in fear of losing the ‘family's honour’, as his divorced daughter was in a relationship with another man in the village.

According to District Police Office Chief SP Siddhi Bikram Shah, preliminary investigation has shown that the family members had orchestrated a plan to kill the 17-year-old in order to save the family's honour.

"As per the investigation, the victim's parents paid off some people to kill their daughter," said Shah. "They feared losing the family's ‘honour’ if the girl eloped with her lover."

The victim was living with her parents after divorcing her husband. She was allegedly married-off to a man from Sarlahi last year, despite the family knowing about her three-year-long relationship with another person from the same village. However, the girl's parents did not approve of her relationship.

The police further informed that the parents had paid Rs150,000 to a henchman to kill their daughter on October 25. The plan was to kill her while taking her to India on the pretext of medical treatment. However, they failed to carry out the plan that day.

The 17-year-old's parents then found another henchman from Dewahi-Gonahi Municipality and paid him Rs100,000 to commit the crime on November 11, according to police.

On the day of the incident, the victim was sleeping with her mother. The henchmen entered the room when the mother was in the bathroom and shot the victim in the head.

Shah further said that the arrested individuals have confessed to the crime, adding that the police are continuing their murder investigation after extending the custody of the arrestees from the district court.