“I had been living in the house built by my late husband for the past 28 years,” said Mithu. Three families were living in the house.

Though the police team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Ram Sharan Thapa from Area Police Office (APO) in Banepa had reached the site, they failed to save the house. Police, however, managed to arrest Krishna Tamang, 25, of Nagarkot-7 along with the dozer. “We have started investigating into the matter,” Thapa said.

“We could have saved the house had we been informed a little earlier,” Chief District Officer Durga Prasad Bhandari said.

Apparently, the family and a group of six people claiming to have bought the land had been engaged in a bitter dispute over ownership of the land for the past two years. According to the Land Revenue Office, the land registered in the name of Upendra Sapkota two years was transferred to Rajan Sapkota of Paanchkhal last year and a land ownership certificate had been issued in the name of six people, including Sapkota and one Dipak Neupane, on August 7, 2013. The group responsible for demolishing the house had been frequently threatening Baniya to evacuate the house and even physically attacked her family. Mithu’s son Ramkrishna was seriously injured in the attack.

The then in-charge of Banepa APO, Inspector Ashwin Kumar Giri, however, had refused to register the complaint against the group.

Meanwhile, Neupane claimed that they had frequently asked the Baniya family to vacate the land as they had already purchased the land. Police had called both parties six months ago and advised them to find a mutual solution or take the matter to the court. Later both parties had submitted an application at the District Administration Office to settle the dispute. The group, however, demolished the house going against the agreement. Meanwhile, Ramkrishna said they were ready to buy the land on which the house stood or exchange it with another plot of land.