The recent death of a young couple at Shivalinga VDC in Baitadi district recently was a case of murder-suicide where the woman murdered her boyfriend before taking her own life, police said.

The couple’s bodies were discovered on Thursday morning by a villager. The woman, 20-year-old Laxmi Bohara, was found hanging from a tree branch and the man, 21-year-old Ganesh Airi, was found dead on the ground.

Airi’s body had deep wounds in the head and bruises all over the body, suggesting that he had been bludgeoned to death. Police Inspector Krishna Saud said the investigation suggested that he was murdered by his girlfriend. The motive behind the crime was not immediately clear, but police suspect the couple could have been going through some relationship issues.