Police Arrest Young Man Accused of Stalking and Harassing Student in Kathmandu

Kathmandu: Police have arrested a young man accused of repeatedly harassing a student through calls, texts, emails, and remarks sent via Esewa and following her home and college. Sumit Bhattarai, who was publicly named on Instagram on Saturday, was taken into custody by the District Police Circle, Kalimati, on Sunday evening.

DSP Madhu Thapa, Chief of the Kalimati Police Circle, confirmed the arrest. “We have kept him in the office for investigation. Further investigation into the incident is underway,” Thapa said.

According to police, both parties had previously appeared at Police Circle Lainchaur, where Sumit had signed an agreement not to harass the victim, Smriti Poudel. However, despite the agreement, he allegedly continued harassing her both physically and digitally, creating fake IDs, sending unwanted emails, and leaving remarks through Esewa transactions.

Smriti made the matter public on Instagram on Saturday, after which TechPana also reported the news. Following this, Kalimati Police summoned both parties on Sunday and took Sumit into custody.

On Monday, Smriti reached the Kalimati Police Circle to formally file a complaint. “We have come to the office now to file a complaint,” she told TechPana. Police said further action has been taken due to the widespread pressure created after the case went public on social media.

Smriti had also lodged a complaint against Bhattarai with the Cyber Bureau under the Electronic Transactions Act, 2063. Bureau spokesperson Superintendent of Police Deepak Raj Awasthi confirmed that the case is under investigation. “The investigation is proceeding based on the complaint registered by the victim,” Awasthi said.

Smriti further alleges that after she went public, Sumit’s relatives contacted her from an unknown number and threatened her to take down the post. “Both the person in question and his brother are behaving very disrespectfully without realizing it,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “It’s very simple: if a girl doesn’t consent and says ‘no,’ it always means ‘no.’ I will keep repeating this. ‘No’ means ‘no.’”

Meanwhile, another video of Sumit has gone viral on Reddit, showing him threatening Smriti in a classroom in front of others. Smriti confirmed to TechPana that the person in the video is Sumit and said she is fighting back. The video, secretly filmed by one of her classmates, has since spread widely on social media.

 

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