By Nayak Paudel

Morang, May 21: It was early Sunday morning when 33-year-old Devi Prasad Dulal, a resident of Ward 12 of Itahari Sub-Metropolitan City, was rushed to the Golden Hospital in Biratnagar by his wife Mina Shrestha Dulal. However, Devi Prasad was declared dead immediately after he was taken there.
As Devi Prasad was pronounced dead on arrival, the Morang District Police and State 1 Police Office started the investigation into the case.
Mina had rushed her husband to the hospital citing that she found him in an unconscious state, which police found suspicious from the beginning.
“The death was suspicious due to which we started our investigation at the earliest. We firstly investigated the individuals with whom Devi Prasad had sat for drinking in his house Saturday night,” Superintendent of Police (SP) Bishwa Adhikari, chief of Morang District Police, told The Rising Nepal.
During the investigation, police came across Devi Prasad’s differences with 21-year-old Brahma Dev Sah.
Brahma Dev used to work in Devi Pathivara Pharmacy, owned by the deceased, for the past four years. Dulal’s pharmacy is in Ward 10 of Biratnagar Metropolitan City.
Following his differences with Brahma Dev, Devi Prasad had fired him from the job five to six months ago.
“The sour relations between Brahma Dev and Devi Prasad increased our suspicion due to which Brahma Dev was taken into custody for investigation. After a day-long interrogation, Brahma Dev revealed that he was involved in murdering Devi Prasad,” said SP Adhikari.
But Brahma Dev was not the only one behind the murder. Brahma Dev had murdered Devi Prasad with the help of Mina, wife of the deceased, and 20-year-old Sonu Sah, a friend of Brahma Dev.
“During the investigation, we found that Mina and Brahma Dev had a good relation with each other; Mina was also not happy with her husband and she used to share her grievances with Brahma Dev,” said SP Adhikari.
Mina had called Brahma Dev to her house Saturday night. But when Brahma Dev and Sonu reached, Devi Prasad was still awake and drinking. Then Mina asked the duo to hide in the house.
After Devi Prasad slept, the duo was called out. They used a rope, which was brought by Brahma Dev, to strangulate Devi Prasad. At around 11:30 pm on Saturday, Devi Prasad was dead in his house.
After murdering Devi Prasad, the trio was confused about what to do next. They then came with a plan to show Devi Prasad’s death due to his disease.
To conclude the murder as they planned, Mina asked the duo to leave; she then called her neighbour and informed that Devi Prasad was unconscious and needed to rush him to the hospital.
“Mina called her neighbour saying that she felt her husband was cold due to which she woke up and when she looked at him, he was unconscious. It was past midnight when Devi Prasad was rushed to the hospital,” SP Adhikari added.
According to police, they also found the rope, which was thrown nearby the house. Police also found eight pairs of surgical gloves, a bedcover with blood on it, a broken chain, a bandage, two nylon ropes, a pillow cover, four mobile phones and eight SIM cards linked with the murder.
Morang police had made the trio public amidst a press-conference on Monday.
“The trio will be charged for murder. We have begun the necessary legal procedures and have received permission to keep them under judicial custody for further investigation,” said SP Adhikari.