Yagyaraj Panta, the father of 13-year-old Nirmala who was raped and brutally murdered in Kanchanpur about six months ago, beat up his ex-wife Durga Devi, the mother of the deceased teenager.

He did so when Durga Devi gave her own blood for testing after suspicions were raised on the vaginal swab extracted from the body of their murdered daughter. Durga Devi said Yagyaraj could have killed her had she not escaped.

“My eldest daughter Manisha had gone for tuition classes early in the morning and the youngest daughter too was preparing for tuition classes. Yagyaraj barged into the house and scolded me why I did not seek his permission before giving my blood for examination,” said Durga Devi. “He strangled me and threatened to kill me. I survived because I was able to escape from his grip.” 

Almost all evidences that could have identified the culprit(s) responsible for the crime were destroyed and the authenticity of even the 'final' evidence i.e. the vaginal swab, too, is being questioned. Activists have been claiming that all suspects have got through the DNA testing as the vaginal swab itself was made bogus to protect the real perpetrator(s).

As a result of such claims and due to the fact that culprit(s) responsible for the rape and subsequent murder of their daughter remain unidentified even after nearly six months of the incident, Durga Devi had given her blood sample to confirm the authenticity of the vaginal swab collected from her daughter's body, hoping it may help in the investigation.

Yagyaraj had remarried after Durga Devi 'failed to give birth to a son', leaving her with the sole responsibility of taking care of their children. However, he emerged to support her after their daughter Nirmala was raped and murdered despite having abandoned the family and living with his new wife.

Durga Devi said they first asked Yagyaraj to give his blood sample for examination, but he refused. “I took it upon myself after his refusal,” she added.