Rape and murder-accused arrested from US after 19 years

Kathmandu, Oct 24 : Nepal Police have arrested a rape and murder-accused person after 19 years. The action has imparted a strong message that the criminal cannot go scot free no matter where s/he hides.

Police have been successful in nabbing murder-accused Leelaraj Gautam, 42, of Jhapa Bhadrapur municipality-9, who has been absconding after the murder case.

Gautam was sentenced a lifetime imprisonment by the apex court over the murder case. He was arrested at Miami of the United States with the help of Interpol, said Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police.

He was brought back to Nepal on Wednesday and presented before the Kathmandu district court the same day. Later he was remanded to Prison Office Dillibazaar with the court order, informed Superintendant of Police (SP) at CIB Abhushan Timilsina.

It may be noted that Sitaram Basnet had called Sandhya Rajbamshi from her house in the night on 19 Asoj 2057 BS and Gautam and Manoj Khadka along with others had raped and subsequently strangulated her to death and fled the scene after hanging the dead body from a tree.

The dead body of Sandhya was found hanging in the Charali forest of Jhapa on Asoj 30 morning.

In yet another crackdown, the police had arrested a person accused of the murder of his father after 20 years.