Viral video leads to arrest of two men over theft from Nepal flood victim's body
Nepal Police have arrested two men after a video went viral showing them removing gold earrings from the body of a woman who died in the recent flash floods that struck Nepal's Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts, with a related mudslide also hitting the Gyirong Port crossing across the border in Tibet.
The men have been identified as 25-year-old Madan Gurung, who is originally from Nawalparasi district and was living in Bharatpur, and 38-year-old Umesh Chaudhary, who is originally from Sunsari district. Both men were arrested near Pokhara Bus Park in Bharatpur on Thursday, after police identified them from the video.
The video, which is 41 seconds long, shows the woman's body caught in floodwater. One of the men can be seen holding her hair while using a wooden pole to pull the body closer, and the other is seen removing the earrings from her ears while several people stood nearby, filming the scene on their phones.
Police said the woman's body had been swept away by the flood and later recovered from the river. They confirmed that further investigation into the case is still ongoing.
Chitwan's Chief of Police, SP Rameshwar Paudel, said such behaviour would not be tolerated, and that police have increased monitoring to prevent similar incidents from happening during the ongoing rescue and recovery work.
