Police to seek life sentence against Koirala

Police have decided to take the case of DIG Ranjan Koirala, who is accused of killing his wife, to the court demanding life sentence with confiscation of all the properties.

Organising a press meet at the Metropolitan Police Commissioner's Office on Monday, police said all the evidence gathered during the investigation goes straight against Koirala who claimed that the death of his wife, Gita Dhakal, was an accident. Koirala had told the police that the death occurred during a husband-wife battering over economic issues and that it was not deliberate.


“Available evidence proves that the murder was premeditated,” said SP Rajendra Shrestha, chief of Metropolitan Police Range (MPR). “Although he asserts that the murder was accidental, facts that he bought a jar and petrol prior to the murder, prove it was intentional.”

MPR Spokesman DSP Dhiraj Pratap Singh said police would soon come up with a strong case against Koirala. “We will fight the case on behalf of the government, demanding life imprisonment with confiscation of all of his properties.”

According to police, Koirala's taking away his son away from the house, leaving Dhakal alone, shows he planned to come later to murder her.

The high-ranked Armed Police Force officer and his wife Gita had been living separately for the last six years following disputes over property and character. However, they were not divorced yet. Dhakal was living in a house built in two ropanis of land in Budanilkantha worth around Rs 40 million.

On January 11, Koirala reached Dhakal's home, stating that he wanted to take his son, who had been living with her, to a trip around the city. However, leaving his son with the driver at a mall, he again returned to the house and committed the murder. He then locked the house and went out making necessary arrangements to dispose of the body. On the same night, he loaded the body on his vehicle and set for Tistung-8, Makawanpur, where he burned the body.
Family of Dhakal, on the other hand, after losing contact with their daughter, tried to lodge a complaint suspecting Koirala's involvement behind Dhakal's disappearance. Police refused to register it, citing lack of evidence. On January 21, Koirala went to the location to check if the body had completely burned. But he got entrapped as locals interrogated and informed the police about his unusual activities at the site. As he was returning to Kathmandu on January 22, a special squad deployed from MPR and Metropolitan Police Crime Investigation Division arrested Koirala from Nagdhunga, the entry point to the Capital. During investigation on the same day, he admitted to his crime but stated that the murder was unintentional. “She died after her head stroke the wall,” the statement of Koirala reads. “Violence started that day after she called me to the house and said she was in need of Rs 500,000.”