April 15, 2025
GELEPHU – The Bongaigaon Police in Assam, India, arrested two Bhutanese for the murder of a pickup truck driver from Samtse, whose body was found near the Aie River on March 27.
After absconding for 10 days, Thenrap Lepcha, also known as Subash Pradhan, was arrested in Siliguri on April 10, while Krishna Prasad Adhikari was apprehended the following day in Dadgari.
The vehicle of the deceased, which had been missing since the incident, has been recovered.
Bongaigaon Police launched the arrest operation using mobile tower location tracking and apprehended Thenrap Lepcha, who was hiding in the Bhupendra Nagar area of Siliguri.
Both in their late 30s, Thenrap Lepcha, from Burkey in Samtse, previously worked at a workshop in Samtse and now lives in Siliguri for work, while Krishna Prasad Adhikari is from Dorokha. The victim, Tek Bahadur Ghalley, in his late 20s, was also a native of Samtse.
According to reports, both suspects have confessed to the crime, having struck the deceased on the head with a stone.
The incident was reported to have occurred between midnight and 1am on the night of March 26, in a forest between Santabari and Gelephu. The victim, who temporarily resided in Jaigaon, was said to have travelled to Gelephu to collect a consignment, but police records confirmed that he never arrived.
While the crime was committed under the influence of alcohol that night, Indian police revealed that the motive behind the murder was to steal and sell the vehicle, with the trip orchestrated as a ploy to kill him midway—a premeditated crime disguised as a routine journey.
On that day, Krishna Prasad Adhikari contacted the victim, who was in Bhutan at the time, to reserve his pickup truck under the pretense of transporting excavator parts from Gelephu to Samdrupjongkhar. The victim then picked him up from Manglabari Bazaar in Jaigaon and Thenrap Lepcha along the way from Hasimara.
After the incident, the perpetrators moved the body from the crime scene and dumped it in the Aie River. They later tried to sell the pickup truck for INR 250,000 and had already accepted an advance of INR 50,000.
Krishna Prasad Adhikari is married and has two daughters. However, he has been living separately from his wife, who currently resides with his parents in Dorokha. He was working in Thimphu after leaving a private construction job in Samtse.
According to his close friend, he has been involved in several civil disputes related to financial matters, from Samdrupjongkhar to Thimphu.
The deceased, Tek Bahadur Ghalley, worked as a pickup driver and is survived by his wife and th eir 11-month-old son.
The Bongaigaon Police will prosecute the case. The Royal Bhutan Police, Gelephu Division, has been closely collaborating with the Bongaigaon Police.