Kathmandu, November 25
The woman found dead in Balaju last Saturday, known as Maya and identified as Ayusha Magar, was killed and dumped on the roadside 10 days earlier, police investigations have revealed. The truth surfaced after the suspect was arrested and interrogated.
A team from the Kathmandu District Police Range has arrested Surya Thapa Magar on charges of murder. Surya told police that he killed the woman on the night of Kartik 26 and disposed of her body the same night.
However, the body remained on the roadside for 10 days without anyone noticing. Surya had dumped Ayusha’s body near the roadside close to the New Bus Park in Tokha Municipality-9.
Locals only discovered the body on Mangsir 6 — 10 days after it was dumped. During that period, waste collection at Banchare Danda had been obstructed, causing garbage to pile up along streets. Residents told police they assumed the heap was just trash.
On Saturday, a community cleanup was being held in the area. While attempting to clear what they thought was a pile of garbage, locals found it unusually heavy. Suspicious, they opened it and discovered the woman’s body.
Only then did they inform the police. By the time authorities recovered the body 10 days after the killing it had already started decomposing, leading investigators to suspect it was several days old. Further investigation confirmed that she had been murdered and dumped on Kartik 26, said SP and spokesperson Pawan Kumar Bhattarai of the Kathmandu Police Range.
Police had initially suspected the victim to be a transgender woman, but later confirmed her identity as Ayusha Magar, known as Maya. The motive behind the killing was linked to Rs 500, which Surya admitted to police.
The body, wrapped in a bedsheet, was found around 8 am Saturday. Tags on the bedsheet and pillowcase indicated they belonged to a hotel near Milan Tole, New Bus Park, prompting police to question the hotel’s owner and manager, who said they knew nothing about the incident.
Police then detained 24-year-old hotel staff member Surya Thapa Magar. When arrested, he was under the influence of alcohol. He confessed to the murder during initial questioning.
According to police, the dispute began around 15 days earlier when Ayusha and another woman named Dolma came to the hotel around midnight. Ayusha had taken Rs 500 from Surya, saying she needed it to buy brown sugar (a drug).
On Kartik 26, when Surya asked Ayusha to return the Rs 500, she refused. Police say Surya then strangled her with a shoelace. After killing her, he wrapped the body in a large black plastic sheet and then in a bedsheet before dumping it.
CCTV footage shows him carrying the bundle out of the hotel at 1:52 am.
Police have learned that Ayusha was married. Her mother, Kalpana Sherpali, identified the body.
