The family of a 12-year-old girl who was raped and murdered in Bajhang has refused to receive her body. It has been six days since the incident took place and the police have yet to find the real perpetrator of the crime, says the family.

The body of the 12-year-old girl was found in a temple in Ward No. 2 of Masta Rural Municipality on Wednesday. Police have arrested 20-year-old Rajendra Bohara, a local of the same rural municipality, on the charge of raping and killing the girl. However, Bohara has not admitted to his involvement in the crime.

“Police have released a statement saying that Bohara raped and killed my niece. The statement reads that police are investigating Bohara,” said Ishwor BK, the uncle of the deceased. “But they are also saying that the perpetrator has not accepted his involvement in the crime and that that the case could head in any direction here on. We now find the police’s statement confusing. We will not receive the body until the identification of the real perpetrator is revealed.”

Rupak Khadka, deputy superintendent of police, also chief at the District Police Office in Bajhang, said, “We have adequate proof to show that Bohara is the culprit. We have remanded him in custody and are investigating the case. There is no ground for the family to question the police investigation.”

On Monday, a team of police investigators led by DSP Pancha Kumar Bakhu from the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) reached Bajhang to investigate the case.

“The CIB has reached the incident site and started investigation from Monday. A polygraph expert has also arrived in Bajhang to conduct a polygraph test on Bohara. The test will be performed on Tuesday,” said Khadka.

The 12-year-old was found in a semi-naked state with several bruises on her body. She had gone to feed her cattle at a nearby shed when the incident took place. The shed is just 200 metres away from the temple where the incident occurred, police said.

On Thursday, the body of the deceased was taken to the District Hospital in Bajhang for postmortem. The report submitted to the police on Saturday stated that the minor was raped before being murdered. The report also mentioned that the girl sustained injuries inside and outside her genitals and on her head, face and back, police said.

Dr Milan Khadka at the District Hospital in Bajhang said that since the hospital does not have a freezer to hold bodies, the victim’s body has started to decay.

The victim, along with her two sisters, lived with her grandparents while her parents work in Bangalore, India. Her father, who has returned to Bajhang after the incident, has demanded that the perpetrator be given capital punishment.

“I want justice for my daughter. I did not bring her to this world to be raped and brutally murdered,” he said.