Police have arrested a suspect in connection with the brutal murder of 47-year-old forest guard Rameshwar Mahato in Sarlahi district.
The arrestee has been identified as Ramwali Mahato, a resident of the same locality, Raitarkhor in Ishwarpur Municipality Ward No. 2.
Police have confirmed that blood stains were found on the clothes he was wearing.
Sarlahi Chief District Officer (CDO) Ramuraj Kadariya confirmed that police are investigating Ramwali after taking him into custody on charges of killing the forest guard.
According to CDO Kadariya, since Ramwali was detained with blood-stained clothes, it has strengthened the suspicion of his involvement in the incident.
“Police are investigating Ramwali after arresting him under suspicious circumstances,” CDO Kadariya said. “Since his clothes were found stained with blood, it has strengthened the suspicion of his involvement. Police are conducting interrogation and investigation.”
Stating that the investigation is moving swiftly, he added that police are close to identifying the perpetrator.
Rameshwar, who was employed as a daily-wage forest guard, was allegedly attacked when he went into the forest to stop illegal tree felling. He was found dead in a gruesome state on Saturday, with his head severed from the body, indicating he had been killed with an ax.
The body was discovered in bushes inside the forest area under the Sagar Nath Forest Development Project, about 500 meters from his house. According to Police Inspector Nitesh Kumar Singh, the severed head was found in a bush about 100 meters north of the crime scene at 12:45 pm on Sunday, Poush 20.
The management of the Sagarnath Forest Development Project held an emergency meeting following the gruesome murder of Rameshwar.
Project Manager Khem Lal Senchuri said that the meeting decided to initiate the process to declare Rameshwar a conservation martyr as he was killed on January 3 while performing his duty after being attacked by forest smugglers.
According to him, the meeting also decided to provide Rs 25,000 immediately to his family for funeral and last rites expenses, collect and provide financial assistance equivalent to at least one day’s salary from employees of the Forest Products Development Committee, Kathmandu, Sagarnath Forest Development Project, Sarlahi, and Ratuwa Mai Plantation Project, Jhapa.
Similarly, the meeting decided to collect relief funds nationwide and hand them over to the bereaved family, immediately provide employment to one dependent family member in the same post held by Rameshwar, and take initiatives to secure compensation from the government and the Forest Products Development Committee’s central office in Kathmandu.
