Bhairahawa, May 28
Ashish Chaudhary, one of the two individuals arrested in connection with the suspicious death of Manisha Gharti Magar (17), sister of Nepal’s ace footballer Bimal Gharti Magar, has denied killing Manisha. Ashish said this in course of the police probe into the death of Manisha in suspicious circumstances at her house in Bhutaha, Nawalparasi, on Wednesday night.
Excerpts from the statement that Onlinekhabar accessed:
“Yes, I went to Manisha’s house on Wednesday night because Manisha had called me. My friend Nirmal Rayamajhi had dropped me close to her place on my bike.”
“I was drunk and Manisha got angry at this.”
On Wednesday morning, Manisha went out with her friends. I called her, wanted to know who she was with and told her to return home. Later, this sparked a quarrel between us.
Manisha said she wanted to know why I was always trying to keep her under my control. I told her to return my SIM card and gifts, and said I will return her gifts too. While quarreling, Manisha slapped me and I slapped her back. Then I banged my hand into the showcase. My hand started bleeding. After sometime, Manisha opened her facebook account. I got out of her room, saying I will go home, but I did not. I sat on the verandah of her house and fell asleep there.
Then I woke up at night and found Manisha’s body hanging. I brought her body down. I was fearful because Manisha was no more. Hurried home thereafter.
The next morning, you people (police) arrestd me and brought me here. I do not know how Manisha died. But I would not have stayed home if I had killed Manisha. I would have fled instead. I stayed home because I had not killed her. Don’t know how Manisha died.
History of mental torture?
The police investigation has found a message sent through the mobile phone that Manisha had used to the mobile phone belonging to Ashish. The message reads: You always torture me, I will kill myself.” The probe reveals that the users of the two mobile phones had messaged each other more than once. Now, police are trying to find the truth — whether the two were exchanging messages or whether it was the doing of some other party/parties.
Police are preparing to study the matter by acquiring call details of their mobile phone numbers.
In a facebook post a few months ago, Manisha had posted: I wanna sleep forever.
Police suspect this is an indication of Manisha’s mental status — that she was under stress for some months.
Notably, according to police, Manisha was not the sole person with access to her Facebook account. Ashish used to operate Manisha’s account as well. He used to open her account and block her male friends, and verbally abuse them. This was also a reason behind Manisha’s stress. Police have also interrogated Nirmal, the person, who dropped Ashish at Manisha’s house. Nirmal told police that he returned home after dropping Ashish at Manisha’s place and leaving Ashish’s bike at his house.
Wait for autopsy report
Meanwhile, the Rupandehi district court has extended Ashish’s custody by a week. They are waiting for Manisha’s post-mortem report. Ashish’s statement is preliminary, a police official told Onlinekhabar. Only a polygraph test will show whether or not he is speaking the truth, according to the official.
In Kathmandu, forensic experts have already conducted a post-mortem on Manisha’s body. At this stage, we cannot say whether Manisha was murdered or she committed suicide, say police.
We are investigating the case, a police official in Nawalparasi told Onlinekhabar. The post-mortem report will reveal whether Manisha was strangulated or whether she committed suicide, the official goes.
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