The police received applause after 12 years for arresting the accused in the Ranibari murder case. The government also honored the then DIG of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CIB) Hemant Malla, DSP Bhim Bahadur Dahal, and two police inspectors Mahesh Basnet and Dipendra Adhikari, who were assigned to the investigation.

However, for two decades, the ‘special planner’ of the Ranibari massacre has remained outside the police radar. Ranibari engineer Hemant Shrestha and his wife Anjali Shrestha were murdered with a khukuri on 21 Ashad 2059, and for a long time, the police investigated from the angle of ‘who could they be angry with?’ However, after 12 years, the CIB team succeeded in arresting the two involved in the incident after the conversation between two prisoners arrested in the murder and human trafficking case about the Ranibari massacre reached the police.

‘At that time, there was talk in the prison that the Ranibari massacre was carried out by Mane,’ says an officer involved in the investigation. ‘The breakthrough in the investigation came when it was learned that he had mentioned in the conversation that the target had been missed in Ranibari.’ 

Police arrested Manraj Gurung, 30, a resident of Dolakha and residing in Kathmandu, and Premash Chauhan, 32, a resident of Ramechhap and residing in Jorpati, in February 2015. However, during interrogation, it was found that they were only contract killers. And Manraj's target was Geeta Khadka, the housewife of the Ranibari murder case. However, they killed the Derwal couple and walked away, but Geeta escaped.

'Earlier, the police were investigating Geeta, but when we followed the 'clue' found inside the prison, we reached the person involved in the murder,' says an officer assigned to the investigation, 'Sometimes, how can an investigation be delayed for a long time without getting the right lead? This is an example.' 

When the police discovered that Man Bahadur had taken a betel nut to kill Geeta, the then manpower businessman, Geeta and her husband had already reached the UK. It was revealed that Anjali was also killed after Manraj, who was on his way to kill the landlord, indiscriminately attacked Hemant, a derawal, who was on the ground floor. They had also attacked their seven-year-old daughter with a khukuri. So far, who is the real mastermind of the murder? It is not known. An officer involved in the investigation says, “The police will definitely reveal the answer to that question one day.”

The investigation into the murder of Nirmala Pant, who was found dead on 11 Shrawan 2075 in Kanchanpur, has been stalled so far, due to some serious mistakes made by the police in the initial stages. The National Human Rights Commission report states that the police were “unable to secure the incident” at that time. Rather, although it was not intentional, the evidence was destroyed.

That incident also exposed the shortcomings of the police in the ‘scene of crime’ due to lack of adequate training. Later, some even questioned the DNA collection process. According to police officers, the Nirmala murder case was a case that was shrouded in mystery because the police failed to take the victim’s family and society into confidence. ‘If the family had responded well from the time they filed the complaint that Nirmala was missing, it would not have been so difficult,’ says an officer involved in the investigation. ‘Even later, the police should have made the accused public as seriously as they should have, but that did not happen.’ 

Some police investigation officers still claim that Dilip Singh Bista, who was arrested and released earlier, was involved in the incident. However, they say that the investigation has been further delayed due to pressure from society and the media. To some extent, DNA tests were conducted on the then Superintendent of Police (SP) Dilliraj Bista and his son. This is the first case where the DNA of the largest number of people has been tested in a single investigation.

Later, a 3-member technical committee formed under the coordination of Dr. Jeevan Rijal, former executive director of the National Forensic Science Laboratory, questioned the DNA collection process itself and suggested that the investigation be based on other factors. This shows how much weaknesses in the crime scene and forensic investigation can complicate the investigation. 

According to police officers, another reason behind the long-term delay in criminal investigations is pressure from society and the media. An example of how this can derail investigations is the Aarushi-Hemraj murder case in New Delhi, India. The body of 13-year-old daughter Aarushi was found in the apartment of dentist couple Dr. Rajesh and Nupur Talwar in Noida on the night of 3 Baisakh 2065.

Two days later, Hemraj Banjade, a Nepali national who worked as a domestic worker, was found dead on the roof. For a long time, the Indian media presented Hemraj as the ‘murderer’. Their suspicion was that he committed suicide after the murder. The police officers assigned to the investigation interrogated and brutally tortured many of Hemraj’s Nepali worker friends in Delhi. However, after 6 years, the court proved Hemraj ‘innocent’. Based on circumstantial evidence, Aarushi's parents were found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. They were later acquitted by the High Court, but the real reason for the incident remains unanswered. 

Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Hemanta Malla Thakuri, who is also the former head of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police, says that some investigations can take years to reach a conclusion. 'And, the knot of such crimes can be solved in unexpected ways,' he says. For example, the 'person involved' in the murder of Judge Rana Bahadur Bam, who was killed in Kathmandu, was identified after 2 and a half years based on the statement given by the accused arrested on charges of theft in Dhanusha. Officials say that there are instances where information about the crime has been learned even from people sitting in a kiln. 

There is also an instance where the Nepal Police arrested a person involved in the crime after three decades. The notorious 'Bikini Killer' Charles Sobhraj, who was involved in the murder of 6, Pus 2032, was arrested by the Nepal Police on 2, Asoj 2060 from 'Casino Royale' in Kathmandu. He was questioned by the police at the time after he killed Armand Laurent Carriere and a young woman named Conijo Branzi in Bhaktapur. However, he was released due to lack of evidence and remained in the Central Jail, Sundhara, for 19 years and 2 months after his arrest in 2060 BS.

Convinced that the incident would not be forgotten because it was an old incident, he entered Kathmandu under the guise of a filmmaker. The charges against him were confirmed in court with the help of the investigators who interrogated Sobhraj in 2032 BS. According to officials, the most important evidence was the signature he made when he stayed at the hotel at that time. 

According to a report on the investigation into the murders conducted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 40 to 60 percent of 'cold cases' worldwide are murders. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)'s 'Uniform Crime Report' also shows that the number of 'cold cases' related to murder in the United States has reached nearly 346,000 from 1965 to 2023. 

In Nepal, only a few limited cases are discussed where the investigation has stalled, and the police are also focusing on them. However, there are many other cases in the country, the secrets of which are yet to be unraveled, and the criminals have yet to be brought to justice. 

The body found on the banks of the Hanumante River in Bhaktapur in 2077 BS, when the government announced a lockdown to combat the coronavirus pandemic, is another example of incomplete investigation. A headless body was found on the banks of the river on the border of Gatthaghar and Balkot. The hands and feet had been cut off, and the sensitive organs were also damaged. According to the officers deployed at the scene, the body was mutilated so that the body would not be exposed and no clues would be left for the police.

Forensic experts had indicated that the body could be that of a 17- to 19-year-old girl, and it was suspected that the murder had taken place 10 to 15 days before the body was found. However, the police were unable to identify her as the head was not found, and the investigation is still pending. Although the police used to flip through the murder file a few years ago, the investigation officers deployed in the Valley have now forgotten the incident.

Former police inspector Dipendra Adhikari, who has investigated heinous crimes for a long time at the CIB and the Valley Crime Investigation Office, believes that the crime scene is the main place that needs to be sensitive to make the police investigation successful. ‘There are cloth fibers, from footprints to fingerprints, there is always a shortage of skilled manpower to collect them,’ he says, ‘If evidence is collected properly from the crime scene, no matter how long it takes, criminals will not escape the law.’ According to the investigation officers, the lack of an integrated record management system in Nepal also makes investigations difficult. 

The system of national identity cards has just been introduced. However, to find the details of a vehicle number, you still have to go to the transport and start turning the tables, some details are not found. Some police officers say that the system of waiting for a court order to obtain the much-needed Call Detail Record (CDR) details for the investigation makes investigations difficult. ‘Sometimes, how quickly the suspect is identified also determines whether the accused is caught or not,’ says a Superintendent of Police (SP), ‘However, having to wait for the court to open even to get the general details of the mobile phone causes difficulties.’ 

Police officers deployed in the capital to investigate crimes also bring details based on informal relationships, but if there is a serious incident in the district, there is a possibility that the accused will have crossed the border by the time the details are received. ‘The success of a criminal investigation is also determined by the commitment of the investigation officer and police personnel deployed in the initial phase,’ says the SP, ‘and, if the investigation at that stage does not go in the right direction, it can also confuse the investigation officer who comes later.’ And, therefore, it can create obstacles on the way to solving the incident.