The DNA sample taken from the vaginal swab of Nirmala Panta, the 13-year-old girl who was raped and subsequently murdered in Kanchanpur on July 26 last year, has matched with the DNA profile of her mother.

The District Police Office (DPO) in Kanchanpur released the statement after receiving the report on Sunday.

Durga Devi, Nirmala’s mother, had filed an application at the DPO on January 10, demanding an authenticity verification of the DNA sample collected from her daughter. She had also given her blood sample to cross-verify her DNA with that of her daughter’s.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Kuber Kadayat confirmed the matching of the two DNA profiles. He said the report arrived on Sunday and it was a 99.99 percent match. “This has cleared any confusion there was about the vaginal swab taken from Nirmala after the incident,” SP Kadayat said.

Family members and women rights activists had long been demanding the authorities cross-verify Nirmala’s DNA with her parents. Durga Devi had demanded the two DNAs be verified for she feared the specimen collected from her daughter’s body had been tampered with, as had been the case with other evidences pertaining to the case.

“I thought the vaginal swab could also be fake as a number of proofs were destroyed during investigation. It is good to know that this (vaginal swab) was protected. I am a little hopeful now. I hope the culprit will be found, although late,” said Durga Devi.

Durga Devi’s thirteen-year-old daughter, Nirmala, was found murdered, after being raped, on July 26 in a sugarcane field in Kanchanpur. Police are still clueless about the culprits.

Bom sisters deny involvement in teen murder case

 Sisters Babita and Roshani Bom, suspects in the widely known murder case of Nirmala Panta of Kanchanpur, have said they are innocent.

Speaking today at a press meet at the Reports Club, the Bom sisters accused human rights activist Indra Prasad Aryal of preparing a ‘false’ report about the case which mentions their names without their consent. Stating that the act caused them mental stress, they demanded authorities take action against Aryal.

Elder sister Babita said the ‘false’ report by human rights activists and news linking their names to the case harmed their social status and assassinated their character, making it difficult for them to even go to school and face the public confidently.

The Bom sisters, in their statement regarding the case, have said that Nirmala had visited them at their home, on July 26, to do some homework and then left at 2:00 pm. Nirmala was later found murdered in a field.

Roshani said her sister had to spend 20 days in police detention and she herself for seven for no reason. At the press meet, she appealed to the government to find the ‘real’ perpetrator (s) behind the case.

Indra Bom, the mother of Babita and Roshani, too claimed the innocence of their daughters.