Family members of the 17-year-old girl, whose body was found in a forest in Baitadi district on Thursday, have expressed their fears of the perpetrator(s) going unpunished.

“The perpetrator(s) must be arrested soon and punished,” said Dura Bhatta, the mother of the victim.

Dura, who lost her husband two months ago, is grief-stricken after her daughter’s death.

The teenager had gone to school on Wednesday but never returned home.

A day later she was found dead at Chadepani in Dogadakedar Rural Municipality Ward No. 7.

She was a 12th grader at Sanatan Dharma Secondary School in Khochlek, Ward No. 3 of the rural municipality.

Family of the victim and her friends suspect that someone raped and murdered her.

Shankar Bhatta, the victim's uncle, fears that the crime against his niece will go unsolved just like in the case of Nirmala Pant.

Pant of Kanchanpur was found dead in July 2018. But police have yet to arrest the culprits(s).

Shankar said that he does not have any complaint about the police investigation as of now but he stressed the need to maintain constant vigil so that the probe is concluded at the earliest possible and culprits are brought to book.

“So far, police investigation is satisfactory, but they have not given us any assurances by when they can conclude the probe,” said Shankar. “Our biggest concern is that the perpetrators will go unpunished if they have links with people in high places.”

There are palpable fears among the local people in light of the crime, and young girls of school-going age are afraid to step out of the house, said Jyoti Bhatta, one of the victim's classmates. “I haven’t gone to school since Thursday. So many of us are scared to walk alone and have been missing classes.”

The body of the victim was found in a bush on Thursday.

Police and locals had reached the incident site at around 5pm, and the body was taken to the District Hospital at 2pm on Friday.

According to Dr Basanta Raj Joshi, the head of Baitadi District Hospital, the result of the post-mortem, which was conducted on Saturday, is expected to come by Sunday evening.