Army person dies in police custody. Police say he injured himself trying to escape, public not convinced.

  • November 17, 2019

A 28 year old soldier of the Nepali Army passed away on Sunday morning. He was being held in police custody and breathed his last en route Bharatpur Hospital in Chitwan.

The deceased soldier, identified as Ram Kandel of Icchakamana Rural Municipality of Chitwan was taken into police custody on Saturday evening. According to the police, an inebriated Kandel was first seen misbehaving with a women when the police intervened. The police were forced to take him into custody after he was misbehaved with the on duty officers too. He was taken to the temporary police post at Phisling.

According to the police, Kandel, in a bid to make an escape attempt fell off the cliff and severely injured himself. Provisions to transfer him to Bharatpur Hospital were made, however, Kandel passed away on the way to the hospital.

Meanwhile, family members of Kandel and the larger community are not convinced he died due to his injuries from the fall. They suspect police abused him while being kept in custody.

On Sunday afternoon, they took their protests to the street, and obstructed the Prithvi Highway for hours. They gave their protests up only after other senior police officers from the district assured them a fair investigation would take place.

Kandel’s body is being kept at Bharatpur Hospital, and will be released for his last rites following a postmortem.