An elected people’s representative from Malarani Rural Municipality-2, Arghakhanchi, has reportedly been missing for the past two weeks.

Bishnu Prasad Bhusal, the ward chairman of Malarani-2, had left for Sandhikharka, the district headquarters of Arghakhanchi, on December 17, and has not been heard from since. According to Bhusal’s family members, he had left home saying he would be going to Sandhikharka to repair his motorcycle. However, Bhusal instead left his bike at a local workshop and went to Gorusinge on a bus (Lu 1 Kha 7160) the same day.

“He (Bishnu) got off from the bus in Gorusinge. I did not see where he went after that,” said Santosh Bhusal, the driver of the bus. According to Santosh Bhusal, the ward chairman left his cell phone set on the bus. He returned it to the chairman’s wife later.

“We thought that he had gone for some work and would return. But he has been out of contact for the past 13 days,” said Bishnu’s brother Jibalal. He added that Bhusal’s family members had contacted relatives, neighbours and friends to find his whereabouts but to no avail.

Organising a press meet in Sandhikharka a few days ago, Chief Administrative Officer Khagendra Marasini appealed to security personnel and to the public to help find the missing ward chairman.

According  to Bhusal’s phone record, the last calls on his phone were made by the Chief of Malarani Rural Municipality Balkrishna Acharya, ward member Lil Bahadur Pandey and his wife. He however did not receive the calls. Bhusal’s family members have filed an application at the police station asking them to find his whereabouts. Bhusal’s family say Bhusal did not have any financial problems or disputes with anyone.