Biratnagar. The police have arrested three people for the murder of 69-year-old Lalji Prasad Gupta, who has been doing business in Biratnagar for a long time. Among those arrested are the main accused, 36-year-old Afroz Alam of Biratnagar Metropolitan City-6 Swagat Chowk and two minors who are accused of assisting in the handling of the dead body.
Alam, who was arrested, was running a hardware godown at Biratnagar-6 Mahaveer Chowk. The police have also detained a 13-year-old Indian and a 16-year-old Nepalese minor for their involvement in the incident.
Gupta, whose permanent home is Varanasi, India, has been living in Biratnagar for the past 40 years. He used to run ‘Lal Battery and Sons Traders’ at Biratnagar-6 Dharan Road. He had been missing from the shop since around 3 pm on Friday 6th October last.
His body was found on the bank of Keshaliya river in Barju rural municipality-2 Bhimpur of Sunsari on the morning of October 8th while his family and relatives were searching.
According to the Sunsari police, the accused were arrested at around 5 pm on October 10 after thorough investigation.
According to the preliminary investigation by the police, Gupta had spread rumors that some time ago, Alam had stolen the wire of the water drawing motor from Mata Electric Works located in Biratnagar-6. There was a dispute between them regarding this issue. Police say that after the dispute escalated, Alam called Gupta to his house and killed him by hitting him with an iron GI pipe.
According to the preliminary investigation, Alam took the help of two minors to hide and throw the body after the murder and took the body to the bank of Keshaliya river.