Sons held a month after dad's death

The police stand near the grave of Kuber Rai at Lower Dun in Kalimpong
before exhuming his body on Monday

RAJEEV RAVIDAS, TT,  Feb 12, 2018, Kalimpong: Three brothers of the remote village of Lower Dun under Lolay gram panchayat allegedly murdered their father and then gave him a decent burial by telling the world that he had died after a fall before truth eventually caught up with them.

Siblings Puran, Sunil and Mani, aged between 26 and 38, were arrested by Kalimpong police on Sunday on charges of murdering their father, Kuber Rai, 70, on the night of January 19. They have been booked for murder and are in police custody.

A police source said their crime came to light when a local Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader lodged a complaint with the police on Saturday, suspecting them of murdering their father.

"On the basis of the complaint, we arrested the three brothers, and during the course of the investigation, they confessed to their crime," said the source.

A police team accompanied by a deputy magistrate went to their village on Monday and exhumed the body of Kuber, a farmer. "The body has an injury mark on the forehead. It has been brought to the Kalimpong hospital for post-mortem," said the source.

The source said the brothers had killed their father because of the daily nuisance he used to create at home after drinking. "Kuber apparently was a habitual drinker and used to create problem at home. On the fateful night, his three sons got together and killed him. They later passed off his death as an accident and gave him a decent burial. They also conducted all the religious rites associated with death," said the source.

However, Kuber's death had become a talking point in the village, particularly because of the injury to the forehead.

"A photo of the body with pronounced injury on the forehead had been doing the rounds in WhatsApp groups. Many had felt that a fall could not have resulted in such a deep cut. Eventually, some decided that truth behind his death must come out and on Saturday, Youden Lepcha (a local Morcha leader) lodged a complaint with the Kalimpong police," said a villager.