Eighteen-year-old Mandira Adhikari, who had been missing from her home since December 3, was murdered at Fulbari of Athrai Triveni Rural Municipality, Taplejung.

District Police Office, Taplejung, alleged that Ramesh Adhikari of Dumrise, Sidingba Rural Municipality, had killed Mandira and thrown her body into the Tamor River.

Mandira had gone missing after she received a call on her phone on the evening of December 3. Police nabbed Ramesh two days ago after family members suspected his involvement in Mandira’s disappearance.

He confessed to the police that he had murdered Mandira.

Mandira was a 12th grader at local Durga Secondary School. Ramesh had rented a room at Mandira’s home ten months ago and used to teach at Gupteswor Secondary School.

According to Mandira’s uncle Chandra Adhikari, Ramesh had sent a message from Mandira’s Facebook account to her sister Alisha. The message read that she had got married to Narayan Poudel’s son Dipak Poudel at Jhapa’s Haldibari. After that, Mandira’s family members reached Jhapa’s Haldibari to take stock of the boy and his family in Jhapa. Surprisingly, they could not find the boy with the name Dipak in Haldibari.

Family members launched a search operation for Mandira thereafter. A few days later, another message came from Mandira’s Facebook account to Alisha saying a boy from the Dalit caste had taken her to India. She had posted a photo of a boy on her Facebook saying she had got married with him. After they could not believe the Facebook messages and photos, family members lodged a missing complaint with the District Police Office.

DSP Gyanendra Bahadur Phuyal said Ramesh had confessed to the police that he had sent the messages from Mandira’s mobile phone to Alisha after he killed her. “I posted a photo of an unknown boy to convince the family members,” Ramesh told the police.

According to police, Ramesh had taken Mandira to Mitla field, 40 minutes walk from Mandira’s home, murdered her there and thrown her body into the Tamor River from Mitla Bridge. Ramesh was preparing to tie the knot with a girl from Dumrise on December 11. As part of the wedding preparation, Ramesh had set out to Taplejung bazaar to buy his clothes on December 3. The same day he had taken Mandira to the Tamor River and murdered her, police told quoting Ramesh.

Ramesh told the police that he had killed Mandira, thrown her body into the Tamor River and sent the message to Alisha’s Facebook saying she had got married to a boy from Jhapa. After interrogation, police had reached the incident site with Ramesh. Police recovered Mandira’s outer, slippers, and a glove, said DSP Phuyal. Mandira’s body, however, was not found.

A preliminary police investigation showed that Ramesh had an affair with Mandira and he might have murdered her thinking that she might create problems for him to marry another girl. “He has been kept in custody for investigation,” added DSP Phuyal.