While Congress leader and Tulsipur-based media entrepreneur Devi Prasad Dhital was on a door-to-door campaign for the election, five or six gunmen shot and killed him on a busy street on the evening of 6th July 2067, but the police have not yet been able to find out the reason for the murder nor have the killers been arrested.
What you should know
In July 2067, elections were being held for representatives to the Nepali Congress general convention. Devi Prasad Dhital (Hemraj), a media entrepreneur from Tulsipur, was also a candidate from the then Urhari VDC. On the morning of July 6, 2067, after having lunch, Dhital went to Urhari village on a motorcycle with activist Kantaram Wali.
He was returning to Tulsipur Bazaar in the evening after meeting leaders and activists throughout the day. In the same evening, he was shot at in the former Urhari VDC-4, Hemnagar Jaspur (currently Tulsipur-12). The incident took place on the Tulsipur-Amilia road section of the Rapti Highway. He was attacked when he tried to ride a motorcycle parked on the road after meeting a local at his house. Dhital was shot repeatedly on a busy road.
According to eyewitnesses, a group of 5/6 people shot him repeatedly. After shooting, they fled east through a cornfield. Although Dhital was taken to the hospital immediately after the incident, the doctor declared him dead. ‘I didn’t even call him all day because I was busy with work. Nothing could have happened,’ said Mrs. Manju, ‘He must have been taken to the village after making a plan.’
Manju said that Kantaram, who had gone with him, received a call from somewhere seven minutes before the incident and was asked where he was, and he told everyone on the day of the incident. ‘After that, Kantaram extended the time to return on the pretext of smoking cigarettes and the people who opened fire came at that time,’ she said. ‘When my husband tried to start the motorcycle, the plug was removed and it was made so that it would not start. He was distracted and shot as planned.’
The police arrested Kantaram and others involved in the meeting and started an investigation, but could not get close to the culprit. ‘The police officers who came while Kiriya was sitting said that 90 percent of the work was completed and the culprit would be found soon,’ Manju said. ‘But there has been no progress so far. We are tired of running to the police. How will we get justice now?’ 48-year-old Manju is deranged after her husband’s death.
She has been exhausted by waiting for 15 years in the hope of justice. ‘There is nothing left to tell any police chief or leader. "If everyone finds out, nothing will happen," she says. "Now that the incident is old, how will it be found out? What's the matter?" She said that even the diary in which Dhital kept records of transactions was stolen from the house. "Some people who used to come to the house have not come since the incident," she said. "If we study all these incidents, the culprits can be found. The only thing left is for the police to be impartial and not influenced by anyone."
After the death of his son, his father Bhim Kant became very mentally disturbed. He started getting scared and running away whenever he saw a person. Finally, he died in 2071 Magh at the age of 76 due to his son's worry. After the death of his son and husband, Hemraj's 81-year-old mother Revata is also living with worry, anger and hope. She said that she will not find peace of mind until the culprit is found. "I think that whoever saw the person must be the culprit. I think that he killed him," she said. "This doubt would have been removed once the culprit was found! We could have avoided the sin of seeing everyone as a criminal.’ Revata feels that the incident is becoming mysterious because there has been no proper investigation into those involved in her son’s murder. She says, ‘What is the point of an investigation if the culprit is not found?’
The security officer informs that the investigation into the murder is underway. 15 years have passed like this. Dhital’s memory has become a mere ritual. A special investigation team was formed under the coordination of the then DSP of the District Police, Laxman Giri. High-ranking police officers from the center had also come repeatedly to study the incident. The investigation team could not find any clue to get closer to the culprit except for creating a file.
At that time, Dhital was the chairman of the board of directors of Radio Tulsipur. He was also a transport entrepreneur and a construction entrepreneur. He also worked as a ration supplier to the Nepali Army. The then investigation officer Giri said that it was difficult to find the exact cause of the incident as Dhital’s business and relations were in many areas.
A CIB team also immediately arrived at the scene. The then DSP of the bureau, Angur GC, was also in the team. He is now the head of the District Police Office, Banke. He said that at that time, the investigation bureau team studied the files of the incident and returned after some facts were not found. ‘We had studied some at that time but could not find the facts as expected,’ GC said, ‘Since it was an old incident, we are not in a position to remember much now.’
An investigation team was also deployed under the coordination of the then AIG Kiran Gautam immediately after the incident. But no progress was made. District Police Chief SP Deepak Shrestha said that a detailed investigation file on the incident had been sent to the bureau and that the investigation was being carried out by the bureau itself. ‘Such incidents are continuously investigated. The file remains open until the culprit is found,’ he said, ‘The investigation into the incident is still ongoing. The case has been delayed because no reliable facts have been found. Someday or the other, the culprit will be found and dropped.’
The Central Investigation Bureau has been investigating the file since Magh 2074. Central Investigation Bureau Joint Spokesperson and Information Officer SP Niranjan Dutta Bhatta said that a serious investigation into the Dhital murder is still ongoing.
