On October 27, the body of 12-year-old Sunil Raidas was found in a pond close to his house in Dudawa Rural Municipality-3, Banke. Since then, the police have detained several locals and taken many into custody for questioning. One such suspect, Babulal Raidas, 36, of Bankatti in the rural municipality was found hanging inside the toilet of the District Police Office on Friday.

The locals of Dudawa claim that police personnel frequent the villages every day and detain them but have so far failed to build a case against anyone. The police have so far detained 18 villagers, including children, in connection with the incident. Babulal, who was in custody for 25 days, was one of them.

Babulal’s family claim that he was tortured while in police custody and blame the police’s botched investigation for his death.

“Security personnel come to the settlement almost every day and detain whoever they meet in the village. They have arrested my son and kept him in custody. The police have terrorised us,” said Lalita Soni, mother of 21-year-old Ajaya who is also in custody for investigation.

While the locals express their displeasure at the police administration’s approach to the investigation, Sunil’s relatives are still seeking justice for their murdered son.

“It’s been almost a month since our son was tortured and killed. The police are yet to find the culprits,” said Bisharam, Sunil’s father. “We have been trying to register a complaint naming the suspect/s but the police haven’t done so. They say it will affect their investigation.”

Sunil had gone missing on October 26 and his body was recovered the next day. The Area Police Office in Bankatti is just 500 metres from the incident site.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Subhas Khadka claims that a detailed investigation into the case is underway.

“We began investigating immediately after the incident came to light. We will soon bring the culprit/s to book,” he said.