For Anita Bista, 36, of Bisakot, Mangalsen Municipality-3, this year's Chaitra month should have brought a message of happiness. The family was happy after her 56-year-old husband Puran Bista, who had been working in Thana, India for 4 years, decided to come home. She was excited to celebrate the Bisu festival with her husband on the first day of the new year.

On Chaitra 27, Puran called her on Messenger at around 9 pm and said, "I have boarded the car, I will reach Dhangadhi tomorrow. Don't worry, take care of the children..." That conversation became the last voice from her husband for Anita. "Since we were talking through Messenger, there was no phone number. I waited online since the morning of the 28th, but he did not appear," Anita said. "It was a car journey, it must have been on the road, I thought I would get a call from a Nepali number after reaching Dhangadhi." But the phone call did not come throughout the day. On the morning of the 29th, the news of my husband's death made my life dark.'

A friend who came with Puran informed his relatives in India that he had been taken to Seti Hospital in Dhangadhi after he collapsed due to a heart attack at the Indian border post Gaurifanta.
According to the police, Puran was brought to Seti Provincial Hospital in Dhangadhi from the Indian side. Kishore Shrestha, the information officer of Seti Provincial Hospital in Kailali, said that he had died before being taken to the hospital.

According to Deputy Inspector of Police Ram Singh Bohara, who is commanding the Nepal Police at Gaurifanta, the bus that came to Bista had an Indian number plate, but its operator was Nepali. 'A Nepali who was coming from India is unconscious. His condition is serious, he requested that he be taken to the hospital immediately.' The bus operator took the auto from Nepal and took it from India in his own arms,' he said, 'After saying that the condition was serious, no investigation was carried out. We did not question him much because we thought that his life could change even for a second. At that time, we did not know whether the person was alive or dead.'

The family of the deceased has filed a complaint with the District Police Office, Kailali, against the bus driver and some passengers who came with him from India. Based on the complaint given by the family, five people have been taken into custody and an investigation has been launched, said DSP Yogendra Timilsaina, spokesperson of the District Police, Kailali. 'We are sending the viscera to the Nepalgunj lab to find out the cause of death. It may take about 15 days for the report to come,' he said, 'The investigation has moved forward based on the information given by the family members. We have taken five people into custody.' The initial investigation does not show any reason to suspect anything.'

Even though the death had already occurred on the Indian side, the news was only received after the family members were taken to a hospital in Dhangadhi, said Bipin Bista, the deceased's nephew. 'There was a report that he collapsed while being checked at the border while coming to Nepal from India. So far, all that has been proven to be false,' he said. 'Why did the Nepal Police and the Armed Forces, who strictly check even one kilogram of sugar from across the border, not care until the body was brought? There is suspicion of collusion between the bus operators and the police.' He said that the bus staff said that the person who was sitting next to him died on the seat and that the person sitting next to him on the seat had given a statement saying that he did not know that he had died. 'There is no complaint with the Indian police administration. How did the Nepali police administration on the border easily allow the body to be brought? This is the doubt,' he said.

He said that the District Police Office also refused to accept a complaint easily. ‘The police did not accept the complaint,’ he said, ‘The complaint was only received on Thursday after the matter was conveyed from the Home Ministry to the higher authorities of the police. There is still doubt that an impartial investigation will be conducted.’

Anita heard the news of her husband’s death from India. As soon as she received the news, her nephew Rijat Bista and other relatives from Achham reached Dhangadhi. Rijat said that the scene there was different from what she had heard about the news. ‘Uncle’s body was soaked in blood in the hospital. There were huge wounds on the body, the body of a person who had a heart attack should be intact,’ Rijat said, ‘The hospital administration said that he had died before being brought to the hospital. How can the body of a person who had a heart attack be like that?’ Rijat said that the 18,000 rupees, 3 large bags of clothes and other cash sent by his uncle and uncle have not been found yet.

Anita said that after her husband died suddenly on the way to earn, the family was in a big crisis.  ‘We have no basis for earning . We have neither land to farm, nor any other source . My whole world has been turned upside down,’ Anita says, ‘Due to poverty, my two daughters did not see school, I got them married off at a young age  due to poverty.’ 

Anita says that she is unable to educate her 14-year-old eldest son, youngest son and one daughter . ‘They go to a nearby school, but how will they be educated, what will they be fed ? Not only did my husband die, my entire family has collapsed in India .’ Anita’s eldest and youngest daughters are 21 and 19 years old . Anita still regrets that they were not able to study . ‘If the daughters had been able to study, they would have found a job somewhere and managed the house.’ But poverty did not allow them to do anything. Now they are also worried about the future of these young children,’ says Anita, ‘I thought that everything would be fine after my husband returned home.’ He returned wrapped in plastic.’

The pain of the Bista family is not limited to Puran’s death. The family has lost three brothers in India. Puran’s brother Padam Bahadur went missing from Maharashtra, India, 11 years ago at the age of 46. Padam, who had been missing since the third day he reached home, has not been found yet. ‘Let’s not talk about sadness in our family. All three of my father’s relatives passed away in India,’ said Rijat. ‘My father was in contact with me for two days after he reached home.’ He disappeared from the third day, and there is no trace of him till date.' Puran and Padam Bahadur's brother Ram Bahadur also disappeared from Maharashtra 12 years ago.

After his father disappeared, Rijat's family suffered one after another. His brother Nar Bahadur died in India at the age of 32 7 years ago, while his sister-in-law Saraswati's husband also died of cancer within 6 months. 'After our father's body and breath were not found, we searched a lot. We went to relatives, media, and police stations in India,' Rijat said. 'After we did not receive any news for years, we prepared the bodies of our father and great-grandfather and cremated them last year.' He said that his elder great-grandfather Ram Bahadur also disappeared from Maharashtra 12 years ago. 'The person who was with Ram, suddenly disappeared. All three of my father's brothers died in India.' If we had found work in Nepal, our three parents would not have had to end up in India like this,' says Rijat.

Now, Puran's 'suspicious' death has once again shaken the Bista family. The fact that Puran's belongings were not found and he was taken to the hospital in a 'suspicious' condition raises questions about the safety of Nepali workers in India, says Lalita Malati Singh, a journalist based in India.

According to her, on an average, 3 to 4 Nepalis are reported missing from various Indian states every day, and the same number are reported murdered every week. But no Nepali or Indian government agency has official figures on how many Nepalis have been murdered and how many are missing. 'Every day, news of murders and disappearances of Nepalis is coming in. We are working in collaboration with some Indian media outlets that have networks across India,' she says, 'but the number of Nepalis working in India is very low.' No one has .’