KATHMANDU, May 19 - As the whereabouts of our brother (Ramhari Shrestha) remained unknown even as late as May 14, we began searching for him openly.
As days passed since my brother's "disappearance", the plight of his wife Ramila and their children worsened. So, we went to meet Prachanda at his residence at Naya Bazaar on May 13, a day after Ramila formally registered an application at the Maoists' central office at Buddhanagar, Kathmandu demanding to know the truth about her husband.
During the meeting, Prachanda told us that he learnt of the incident only after reading Ramila's application of May 13. Prachanda then assured us: "Bibidh (in-charge of the Shaktikhor cantonment) will either bring him right to your house or he will call you and hand him over to you at any place you want."
Satisfied with Prachanda's assurances, we returned home. We desparately waited for a phone call from Bibidh. But to our dismay, we did not get any call.
We did not even inform members of our family about the incident [of abduction] before our meeting with Prachanda as Bibidh had told us to keep it all a secret, let alone file any complaint with the police.
A UN-registered pistol and Rs 1.7 million in cash were lost on March 28 from Bibidh's room. He had been staying at a room in our house for the last two years. Three days later the weapon and the money were found wrapped up and placed in a window ventilation in the room. The incident was shrouded in mystery as investigations were not carried out in full because of the fast-approaching constituent assembly elections. Bibidh suspended the investigations till after the elections.
After the elections, Bibidh interrogated and severely beat up eight Maoist army personnel who had slept in the room that fateful day. Even our guests were grilled. Ramila was interrogated also. But the investigation provided no clue. Ramhari himself was quizzed twice. He was then taken to Bharatpur for four days.
As Bibidh did not call us, we called YCL in-charge Sonam and Constituent Assembly member Jhakku Prasad Subedi. We asked them to take initiatives with sincerity. Subedi told us, "I have handed this case over to Bibidh and he will call you."
We desparately waited for Bibidh's phone call on May 15. Bibidh finally called in the afternoon and said, "I have just arrived in Kathmandu from Chitwan and I'm having lunch. You should be prepared to receive Ram Hari."
The news brought happiness in our family. Bibidh called us again in the meantime as we prepared to go and bring Ramhari home. "Dai (brother), please do not bring many people with you. Come immediately to Satdobato where I will be waiting for you," Bibidh said.
However, I reached Satdobato, Lalitpur along with Shyam Kaji Shrestha, Bimala, Keshav and Jit Bahadur.
Shyam Kaji and I waited for Bibidh on the way to Godavari while the other three moved about here and there. Bibidh then called me to check if I had reached Satdobato. He asked what my means of transport was. I replied, "Motorcycles." He then asked, "How many?" I replied, "Two."
Bibidh further asked, "Will three be OK on the bike?" I then asked, "Where do we have to go?" "Sanepa," he replied, "All right, go there and remain standing, a man will come."
Two Maoist junior cadres showed up within two minutes after the exchange with Bibidh. But Ramhari was not with them. They told us that we should go with them in a taxi. We told them, "We were thinking that you had brought Ramhari."
We told them clearly that we would not go anywhere without consulting our family. Bibidh then called us again and said, "Dai (brother) we have to go down (to Chitwan)."
We returned home. At about 1: 30 pm, Bibidh phoned and said, "Brother, I have crossed Thankot. I have sent a vehicle bound for Pokhara, it will drop you all off in Chitwan." After some time, a vehicle with the number plate Ba 4 Pa-9641 arrived at our house at Koteswor. A familiar Maoist militiaman, Jinni of Boudha, was also in the vehicle.
We four, including Dunjaraj, left for Chitwan at about 2 pm. The militiaman bought us corn to eat at Thankot. We had snacks at Ramnagar, Chitwan. We didn't receive any phone call on our way to Chitwan and there was no discussion about Ramhari. It was already late evening when we reached Narayangadh.
The vehicle reached Shaktikhor of Chitwan at about 8 pm. A militiaman opened the gate. Maybe he had already been informed about our arrival. The vehicle dropped us at the door of the Third Division office. Maoist cadres then took us to a meeting room, offered us cold drinks and switched on the fan. They asked if we were hungry. We were anxious to meet our missing relative through Bibidh. We told them that we had already had enough snacks at Ramnagar and asked them to call Bibidh. After some time, Bibidh, looking visibly sad, arrived along with deputy commander Sajib and an office secretary. We didn't see Ramhari with them and felt a chill in the spine. We sat across a U-shaped table.
Soon, we told Bibidh that we didn't have much time. "Please bring Ramhari, we want to return to Kathmandu immediately." Bibidh then gave a long speech. He beat around the bush. He said, "So sad….although Ramhari was innocent….he was so good….he is not with us." I asked, "When? He replied, "May 10."
He said he heard about Ramhari's murder only two days later. As soon as we heard that Ramhari had been killed, we took out our cell phones and switched them off. We then asked why and how he was killed. Bibidh said, "Atom and Raghu beat Ramhari to death, accusing him of revealing their secret." We asked for the body. He then said friends dumped the body in the Narayani river after he died while being taken for treatment. We then burst into tears.
It was late night. It was pointless staying there any longer. We requested Bibidh to arrange a vehicle for our return to Kathmandu. We returned by the same vehicle which brought us to Chitwan. After about 600 meters, five youths with bags on their backs followed us on motorcycles. We suspected something was afoot. When we reached the Mahendra Highway, our vehicle left the motorcycles behind. As soon as we crossed Narayangadh and reached the forest, we noticed the motorcycles in front of our vehicle. We felt that we were not secure and all of us started talking in Newari, which the driver wouldn't understand. We discussed how to take precautions.
As soon as we reached Ramnagar, we made an excuse saying we were hungry, and asked the driver to stop. We asked him to park the vehicle away from the main road so that the motorcyclists wouldn't notice it. When the driver was parking the vehicle, a nail punctured the tire and he started repairing it. We told the driver that we were very tired and would stay in a hotel for the night. We managed a room for him also. While the driver was busy repairing the tire, we stealthily took a road behind the hotel and came onto the main road. We caught a bus to Pokhara and reached Munglin at 1 am. We took another bus to Kathmandu from Munglin and reached Kalanki.
It was already morning. When we reached Koteswor, we felt as if we had escaped from the devil' own maw. On reaching our house, members of the family began to wail when they didn't see Ramhari with us. We also couldn't hold back our tears.
(Based on a conservation with Suraj Kunwar)
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