A Nepal Police team led by a deputy inspector general, which reached Jumla on Sunday to probe a violent clash that erupted while evicting fasting Dr Govinda KC on Thursday, has returned without visiting the incident site.

The three-member team led by DIG Suresh Bikram Shah, with Superintendent of Police Kedar Rajaure and Deputy Superintendent of Police Chintamani Budhathoki as its members, had reached Khalanga, the district headquarters of Jumla, to probe the clash at the Karnali Academy of Health Sciences (KAHS) that left dozens of locals, health workers and security personnel injured.

The team returned to Kathmandu on Monday without visiting the incident site and meeting hospital staffers, civil society members and local residents.

KAHS Registrar Bishworaj Kafle said that the police team did not come to the academy premises for investigation. “We heard that the police team arrived in Jumla but they did not come here to meet doctors and staffers,” said Kafle. Health workers have demanded a fair probe into the incident and stern action against the guilty. They claimed that police used excessive force and beat up doctors and other staffers indiscriminately on the academy premises while Dr KC was on his indefinite hunger strike.

Raj Bahadur Mahat, Jumla chairman of civil society, suspected that the police team might have returned without meeting with the stakeholders to protect security personnel who had resorted to baton charge and firing in a sensitive area like hospital.