Police investigation has revealed that two adolescent girls from Ghodasain in Dhakari Rural Municipality-8, Achham, were brutally killed for refusing physical relations.

The District Police Office on Saturday made public two suspects, aged 15 and 17, for their alleged involvement in the crime. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ishwari Prasad Bhandari, chief of Achham police, said the girls were bludgeoned to death by their ‘lovers’.

The bodies of 14-year-old Ishara Khadka and 15-year-old Saraswati Khadka were found in a forest area in Dhakari-8, around 15 metres apart, on January 25. Bloodstains were reportedly found approximately 500 metres uphill of the site. The victims went to the area to herd goats.

According to DSP Bhandari, two days before the crime, Ishara and Saraswati had planned to meet the suspects at Chhinne forest. The victims and the teenage boys, police claim, were in regular contact over phone for about a year.

The accused adolescent boys are from Tali settlement in Dhakari Rural Municipality-3. They came to the village of Ishara and Saraswati with the goal of meeting their relatives on the occasion of Maghi Tihar. They also made a plan to meet with the girls and so went to Chhinne forest where the girls were supposed to be grazing goats.

“Our investigation shows that Saraswati and Ishara had love affairs with the suspects,” said DSP Bhandari during a press meet organised on the premises of the District Police Office. “The accused teenagers came to the forest around 10 am. The victims reached the area at around noon. The boys were found waiting for the girls on the bank of the local stream.”

Different police teams from the Central Investigation Bureau, Sudurpaschim Province Police Office in Dhangadhi and the District Police Office in Achham looked into the incident. A local reported seeing some individuals pushing rocks down from a hill near the incident site. This account led investigators to explore the possibility of a crime.

According to Bhandari, some audio and videos were shared from Saraswati’s cell phone with the 15-year-old suspect while all four were sitting on the river bank. Stating that they were in love, the accused boys were asking for girls’ shawls as a memento of love. Ishara, Bhandari said, was ready to give her shawl but Saraswati refused to do so.

According to investigation officers, there was a dispute between two teenage boys at the scene when the girls went to the forest area to look after the grazing goats. The boys fought over who would take the single shawl.

Police claimed that the 15-year-old boy bludgeoned Saraswati to death after she refused to have sexual relations. “Saraswati went to the forest to look after the goats. He followed her and asked for physical relations. He insisted, assuring to marry her after five-six years. Saraswati went toward the stream, refusing the physical relation. It seems that the boy, in a fit of rage, bashed her with a stone,” said Bhandari, adding that she died on the spot.

The perpetrator started rolling boulders from above to suggest the falling boulders killed Saraswati. It seems that Ishara and another teenager did not know about the death until then.

According to police chief Bhandari, on seeing Saraswati’s body, Ishara started crying, and said that she would tell everyone about the murder. The boys tried to convince Ishara to keep the incident to herself.

“When Ishara started running towards the settlement crying, the 15-year-old boy, who is said to be Saraswati's lover, grabbed her hand, pushed her back and hit her with a stone on her forehead. Another young man, who is said to be Ishara's boyfriend, hit her on the face with a stone and killed her,” said Bhandari.

He asserted that the juveniles confessed to the murder, and investigation over the involvement of others in the crime is underway.

“We are yet to get post-mortem and other technical reports. This is just a preliminary investigation. There will be further investigation,” said Bhandari.

The girls’ bodies were sent to Nepalgunj for post-mortem after preliminary examinations at Achham District Hospital. The family of the deceased hopes the forensic reports will provide clarity and help with the investigation.