On Saturday morning, the Dhanusha police were notified that a house had been locked for a week at Baniniya settlement of Laxminiya Rural Municipality-5, about 12 km north of Janakpur. Neighbours were surprised about how a house that often had raucous quarrels had suddenly gone silent for days.

When a police team broke into the house, there was loose soil in the prayer room. Beneath the soil, they found a woman’s body. According to the District Police Office in Dhanusha, the body was of 20-year-old Anjali Devi Yadav, wife of Hari Ram Yadav of Laxminiya-5.

Anjali’s body was found in a decomposed state, said Deputy Superintendent of Police Barun Bahadur Singh, who is also the spokesperson of the Dhanusha police. Preliminary investigations revealed that she had been murdered by her husband. The police suspected that Anjali had already been killed when she went ‘out of contact’ on February 22.

“It seems that Anjali was murdered and buried in her home a week ago,” Singh said. “Hari Ram then spread rumours that his wife had run away. Since Monday, the suspect himself has gone out of contact, leaving with their 10-month-old daughter.”

Hari Ram is reportedly a drug user and frequently quarreled with Anjali.

The neighbours told the police that they had heard a heated argument between the couple on February 22.

Singh said they have launched a search operation to nab Hari Ram.

This is not an isolated case of murder in Madhesh of late. Murders over minor disputes and relationships have become a major concern in the province lately, police say.

On February 19, 19-year-old Ishal Prasad Kurmi of Birgunj Metropolitan City-27 in Parsa district, left home, informing his father that he was off for work. When he did not return home, his family filed an application with the police. Police searched for him in every possible place but to no avail. On February 23, his body was found floating in the Bhedaha river.

Police investigation revealed that Ishal had been murdered by his own friends—Mukesh Prasad Yadav, Arun Kumar Yadav and Muna Tiwari—following a dispute over Rs3,500 while playing cards. An argument escalated, at which point they killed Kurmi and dumped his body in the stream. “Further investigation continues after taking all the three accused into custody,” said Superintendent of Police Gautam Mishra.

Likewise, on December 19 last year, the body of 33-year-old Shahid Ansari was found in a sack in the Khaira stream of Mithila Bihari Municipality-2 in Dhanusha district. The decaying corpse was discovered after passersby noticed an obnoxious odour and informed the police.

As the body was badly decomposed, the security personnel were unable to identify it. The police somehow made a sketch of the victim and made it public. “A woman came to contact 66 days after we discovered the body stating that it could be her missing husband,” said DSP Singh.

Investigation revealed that the murder was linked to an extramarital affair. Ansari, a permanent resident of Kamala Municipality-6 in Dhanusha district, was in Qatar for work. He developed a romantic relationship with Dhanusha Mithila Bihari Municipality’s Anita Kumari Yadav, whose husband, Rajkishor Yadav, was away working in Saudi Arabia.

Phone conversations gradually led to an affair, and Ansari even sent money to Anita from Qatar. When he returned to Nepal, they started meeting in person. However, when Rajkishor came home from Saudi Arabia, the husband and wife hatched a plan to kill Ansari. According to the police, Anita roped in her husband in the murder scheme telling him that Ansari had been harrassing her.

Anita tricked Ansari into returning from Qatar by sending him a fake medical report claiming that his wife Ajima Khatun was seriously ill. Upon arrival in Kathmandu on December 11, he called Anita, who invited him to meet her. Ansari went to her house, where Rajkishor and Anita held him hostage in a bedroom.

The following morning, they murdered him with an axe and disposed of his body in the stream. Rajkishor quickly returned to Saudi Arabia while police arrested Anita. “The case has been registered in the district court. Efforts are on to bring Rajkishor to Nepal for a trial,” said DSP Singh.

According to the Madhesh Province Police Office in Janakpur, as many as 43 people—27 males and 16 females—have been reported murdered in Madhesh in the first eight months of the current fiscal year of 2024-25.

Among them, eight murder incidents were reported in Sarlahi, seven in Bara, six each in Dhanusha and Saptari, five each in Siraha and Mahottari, four in Rautahat and two in Parsa. Police have apprehended 59 people—42 men and 17 women—for their alleged involvement in these murders.

In the last fiscal year 2023-24, Madhesh recorded 128 cases of murder. A total of 89 men and 39 women had been killed. Dhanusha saw 21 murders, Siraha 20, Rautahat and Parsa 18 each, Saptari 17, Bara 15, Sarlahi 10, and Mahottari 9. In the fiscal year of 2022-23, Madhesh reported 117 murders—75 men and 42 women.

Police attribute the recent murder cases in Madhesh to issues related to foreign employment, misuse of digital platforms, family disputes and extramarital affairs.

The nature of crimes in Madhesh is changing, DSP Singh said. “Marital conflicts are now escalating into crimes,” he said. “Even minor disagreements among friends are leading to fatal consequences.”

Roshan Janakpuri, an expert on social dynamics in Madhesh, says people are becoming “antisocial and apathetic towards others’ problems.”

“The police too are more focused on investigation rather than on prevention measures,” he said.

He also attributes foreign employment, ‘money-minded’ youth mindset and easy access to drugs as the main causes of an increase in the number of crimes in Madhesh.