Sweden-deportee Commit Suicide

A deportee from Sweden, Balaram Chhetri (28), hailing from Lekhnath of Kaski, was found dead in a Department of Immigration detention centre cell in Maitighar, Kathmandu today.


Chhetri committed suicide by hanging himself with a muffler. He was found dead at around 6:45 Wednesday evening.


The Swedish government on Sunday had handed Chhetri — who is said to have stayed there for around eight years — over to the Nepali Embassy in Sweden. The embassy had issued him a travel permit to Nepal, as he was not in possession of a passport.


He arrived at Tribhuvan International Airport at 2 pm by Thai Airways TG 319 flight. Immigration office at TIA had handed him over to DoI.


According to officials at DoI, he refused to answer anything. The DoI officials then had asked him to pay Rs 5,000 as bail amount.


“We tried our best to find about his deportation but he flatly refused to answer,” said Sesh Narayan Paudel, an investigation officer at DoI.


DoI was in the process of handing him over to the court in the next 24 hours. Chhetri even had refused to accept ‘inmate warrant’ and was being kept in a room at the detention centre. Asked if there were any security lapses at the detention centre, Paudel said, “It is a civilian custody. We allow clothes and electronic gadgets like mobile phones and laptops inside the detention room. This is the first case of its kind and an eyeopener for us. We will take stock of security measures in future.”


Inspector Bir Bahadur Budha Magar, in-charge, Metropolitan Police, said, “The body has been referred to Tribhuvan University Teaching hospital for autopsy.”


“He might have killed himself out of frustration that he could not do much in the foreign land,” Director General at DoI Narayan Sanjel told THT. “He did not seem to be mentally sound, as his behaviour was a bit peculiar during the interrogation session.”


Till late Wednesday, no relative of the deceased had come into contact.


 

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