Baitadi, Feb 8 : The vaginal swab of Bhagarathi Bhatta of Chadepani, Dogadakedar Rural Municipality-8 in the district has been sent to Kathmandu for testing four days after her body was found in a forest.

Police suspect that the 17-year-old Bhatta was strangulated to death after raping her. The swab has been sent to the National Forensic Science Laboratory for investigation, said Janak Dhami, the spokesman for the District Police Office Baitadi.    

"Works on further investigation are on by securing all the evidence collected from the incident site," he said. Samples like vaginal swab have been collected for DNA test.    

Chief of the District Hospital Baitadi, Dr Basanta Raj Joshi said how the teenager died would be clear after the autopsy report is out. Although the post-mortem was conducted on Saturday, the report has not yet been made public. Dr Joshi said works on preparing the report have reached the final phase and they would submit the report to the police today itself.    

However, the family members of the deceased have said they would not receive her body until the truth behind her death is out and the culprits responsible for her death are brought to book.