By A Staff Reporter, Kathmandu, Apr. 24: It was on February 10, 2016 when 32-year-old Bishnu Thapa Magar, a migrant worker, returned Nepal after 22 months. He had come back to his wife and their children at Ward 4 of Suryabinayak Municipality.

The next morning, Bishnu’s wife Parbati Thapa Magar sent the children to schools after feeding them with some leftover food from the previous night. She, then,  prepared soup of horse gram, egg curry and rice for her husband.

At around 9:30 am of February 11, Bishnu felt irritation in his body while eating the food. He was then rushed to the Madhyapur Hospital for treatment.

However, Bishnu died at around 12:40 pm. After the death, police registered a complaint of Parbati regarding the suspicious death of her husband.

As the police began to investigate the case, they sent the samples of the foods which were eaten by Bishnu for test at the laboratory. When the authorities received the viscera report and the testing result of the samples on July 24, 2017, they found that Bishnu had died of poison.

“The report showed that the food eaten by Bishnu contained Organophosphorous Insecticide, a poison. The report helped us identify the real cause of death and the tables turned during the investigation,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Dipak Giri, spokesperson for Metropolitan Police Range, Bhaktapur.

When it was found that Bishnu had died of the poison mixed in his food, the investigation turned towards his wife Parbati.

On January 11, 2018, Lok Bahadur Thapa Magar, brother of Bishnu, filed a complaint against Parbati accusing her of murder.

“The investigation later showed the involvement of Parbati. She had fed the food from the earlier night to her children but cooked fresh meal for her husband. She, however, mixed poison in the fresh food and killed Bishnu a day after he returned to Nepal,” said DSP Giri.

During the investigation, the authorities found that Parbati had an affair with a different man due to which she killed her husband.

Nevertheless, when the police were on their way to arrest Parbati, they found that she had already escaped to Jordan.

“Parbati was being watched since the day we found her involvement. She was in Jordan but we were awaiting her return for more than three years,” said DSP Giri.

It was recently that the Bhaktapur Police got information of Parbati’s return. They then sought permission for the arrest through the Bhaktapur District Court and arrested Parbati on April 21, 2021.

According to the Bhaktapur Police, further investigation and legal process have started against Parbati for the murder of her husband.