Five accused in Deepak Sunar murder case remanded in custody for trial

Kailali, September 25, 2026 — The Kailali District Court has ordered all five accused in the alleged murder of Deepak Sunar in Lamkichuha to be remanded in custody pending trial, including his wife, Yamuna Bik Sunar.

Judge Indra Bahadur Kathayat ordered Yamuna Bik Sunar, Duryodhan Subarnakar, Ram Rajesh Mahato, Birendra Rana and Bhimraj Rana to be detained under Section 67(1)(a) of the Criminal Procedure Code, 2017, according to the court order.

Tejraj Pant, an under-secretary and registrar of the Kailali District Court, said all five defendants were sent to prison in accordance with the court's order.

The court order states that a criminal complaint had identified the five defendants as suspects in an alleged premeditated killing of Deepak Sunar and the subsequent disposal of his body. The case file includes search and seizure records, an inquest report, site inspection documents, statements from local inquiries, and call detail and location records, according to the order.

Statements recorded during the investigation allege that a murder plan was formed following a relationship between Yamuna and Duryodhan and a dispute involving Deepak. According to the statements, Yamuna took Deepak to the Amarawati forest on the pretext of performing worship, where the other defendants allegedly attacked him with weapons.

The investigation statements further allege that after the killing, Deepak's body was wrapped in plastic and bags and thrown into the Karnali River.

However, all five defendants denied the allegations before the court.

The court also considered as evidence a statement provided by the deceased's minor daughter, phone calls and messages exchanged among the defendants, location records from the time of the incident, and forensic examination of samples collected from the alleged crime scene.

According to the court order, human blood and human hair were found among the samples collected from the site, and a DNA test report has also been included in the case file.