The family of Dinesh Bhatta, the boy who has been arrested in murder case of Bhagarathi Bhatta, a 17-year-old girl from Chadepani of Dogadakedar -7 of Baitadi, has claimed that the teenager is innocent.
Deepak Raj, father of 16-year-old Dinesh who was made public by the police as the prime suspect, said that his son was coerced and trapped into giving a false confession.
The accused teenager is currently detained at Silgadhi Juvenile Correctional Center, Doti. Deepak said that Dinesh had confessed to the crime after the real culprits threatened to kill his father and brother if he identified them as suspects.
“My son said he committed the crime because the real murders had threatened him that they’ll kill me and my youngest son if Dinesh revealed anything. My son saw the culprits at the crime scene when it was happened and has identified one of them a technical staff of Dogdakedar rural municipality office,” the father said.
He added that Dinesh could not identify the other man because he was wearing a mask.
According to Deepak Raj, his son saw the incident on his way home from school on February 3. One of the two involved in the incident had put a knife to his throat and threatened not to divulge the matter.
After his son’s arrest, Deepak Raj has left Baitadi and moved to Mahendranagar with his family. His son Dinesh had called him from the Juvenile Correctional Institution on Friday to talk to him.
“Now that you have left the village, the culprits can’t harm you so I will tell you the truth,” Deepak Raj quoted his son as saying.
“He started crying and insisted that he was telling the truth,” said Deepak Raj.
Deepak Raj has pleaded for justice saying that the police were trying to trap the innocent while the real culprits were roaming freely.
Police had arrested the teenager on February 17 as the main accused in the incident.
Far-Western State Police Chief DIG Uttamraj Subedi was deployed to investigate the incident. Subedi returned to Dhangadhi after the accused was made public.
The district court in Baitadi had sent the teen to a juvenile correctional center.
DIG Subedi said that the investigation report, with facts and evidence, has been submitted to the District Public Prosecutor’s Office and the case has been filed in the court accordingly.
As per police, they are confident that Dinesh had committed the crime because his confssional statement was recorded in the presence of his parents.
After the case was filed, the court also took a statement from accused in the presence of his father during the remand hearing. The court then remanded the accused in custody on the basis of the evidence obtained.
During the initial investigation, police had sent Bhagarathi’s vaginal swab and semen sample of the accused to a lab for DNA test, but after the report was delayed, police submitted the report to the public prosecutor’s office with evidences other than DNA reports.
The DNA report has not been made public.
