A microfinance female staff, who was hacked to death by an unidentified group at Hilihang rural municipality-6 in Panchthar on Tuesday, was looted before being killed, according to the police preliminary investigations.
The police investigations show that Sujata Tamang, an employee of the NMB Micro Finance Limited's Gopetar branch at Hilihang-3 was murdered at the Site Jungle as she was on the way to Jorpokhari after attending the monthly meeting of two groups formed by the Finance.
According to the District Police Office (DPO), Panchthar, her killers looted Rs 78,500 in her possession before attacking her with a sharp-edged weapon. Her body was found on the trail of the forest.
As said by DPO's Police Inspector Anil Kumar Poudel, a school teacher saw the body of Tamang lying on the ground at around 3:45 pm the same day while returning home from school.
Following the information given by the teacher, a security squad from the Jorpokhari-based Police Beat reached the incident site. According to Inspector Poudel, handle of Tamang's handbag was found torn and the bag was found cashless. She suffered cut injuries to her throat, hand and stomach.
She phoned her father at around 3 pm to inform him that she was on duty. Around the same time, she received a phone call which was a male voice while attending the meeting. Her mobile phone details read that she had long phone conservation thereafter. It is believed the incident happened in between 3 and 3:30 pm. Police guessed that person(s) known to her might have their hand in the killing.
Someone who had information or was informed that she had cash in her possession might have planned her murder. The murder seems predetermined.
Tamang, hailing from Soyang, Maijogmai rural municipality-5, Ilam, joined the NMB Micro Finance as a field employee for its Gopetar branch some months ago. She was the Bachelor-level first-year student at Ilam-based Mahendra Ratna Multiple Campus.
Police have intensified investigations into the case, focusing on the areas near the incident site.
Prior to this, on May 12, a 15-year-old girl was killed by slitting her throat at Hilihang rural municipality.
