Normal life is limping back to normalcy in Mahendranagar and the neighbouring areas on Friday four days after protests intensified against the police investigation into the rape and murder of a teenage girl in Kanchanpur district.

The situation calmed down after the government formed a high-level probe committee headed by Joint-secretary Hari Mainali to investigate the rape and murder incident. Locals are waiting for the next course of action by the high-level committee.

However, shops are still shuttered in marketplaces and transportation services have also not resumed.

The protests have, however, shifted towards the rural parts of the districts including Belauri, Krishnapur, Beldaandi and Sukasal, among other areas, where locals have taken to the streets by burning tires and obstructing vehicular movement.

Police and protesters clashed several times since the local intensified protests on Tuesday. Six people were injured when police opened fire at the protesters on Thursday. Four police personnel were also injured in the clashes.

After the situation turned violent, the Kanchanpur District Administration Office clamped a curfew from 5pm Thursday to 5am on Friday. As the role of the local administration in handling the case has been questioned, the Home Ministry also transferred Kanchanpur Chief District Officer Kumar Bahadur Khadka and SP Dilli Raj Bista, the district police chief.

Khadka is being replaced by Taranath Adhikari and Bista by SP Kuber Kadhyat. DSP Gyan Bahadur Shetti was also transferred and DSP Krishna Raj Pathak will take his place.

Locals in Kanchanpur intensified their protests after police presented a mentally challenged person before the media as the main suspect in the murder case. They accused the police administration of presenting the fake suspect to protect the perpetrator.

Body of 13-year-old Nirmala was found in a sugarcane field in Bhimdutta Municipality of Kanchanpur on July 27, a day after she was reported missing. Postmortem report showed the teenager had been raped and strangulated to death.