According to the Metropolitan Crime Investigation Division, Bhatta was heading home on his motorcycle, when he hit a person at Gongabu. Immediately following the incident, a group of persons gathered at the incident site and thrashed him up.
After Bhatta was seriously injured, the crowd forcibly took him to Shobhabhagawati by the side of Bagmati River on a taxi (Ba.1.Ja 5168), where he was beaten to death. The body was then left with upper part drowned in water.
Bhatta´s body was found in Dhalku nearby Bishnumati River on September 2. Three persons, including a taxi driver, have been arrested on suspicion of the murder.
Many people in the bus-park area had witnessed the scuffle. Police have arrested the taxi driver Lalit Lama, Bikram Lama and Bijay Subba, on the charge of killing Bhatta, while other accused--Bishal Gurung, Ashok Lama, Suraj Lama and Sonam Lama-- are still at large.
On the day of the incident, Bhatta had left his office -- Metropolitan Police Circle Maharajgunj -- at around 6 pm. Then he had snacks with his colleague Keshav Subedi at a restaurant in Maharajgunj. At 8:45 pm, they headed for their homes. Bhatta dropped Subedi off and took the latter´s motorcycle to go to his residence in Naya Bazaar.
According to the police, Bhatta was in front of a temple in Gongabu when his motorcycle hit the person named Ashok. When he identified himself as a cop during the argument, the crowd showered him with blows.
“They shoved him into the cab saying they will take him to the police station," police stated citing the statement of the accused. "The incident was an emotionally guided crime at a place where drunken people loiter around at night. A small dispute, because it was not solved with basic logic, met such a catastrophic end," said an investigative officer. Bhatta had been temporarily deputed at Maharajgunj this year.
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