Jewellery stolen from grave

Ilam - In an unprecedented incident of robbery, jewellery was stolen from a grave here at Namsalingh of Moijogmai rural municipality – 4 of Ilam on Friday night.

The Mangal Sutra – a necklace symbolizing marriage – was stolen from the corpse which was disinterred from the grave. The mortal remains belonged to Sunita Limbu of Namsaling, who died at the age of 30 on Wednesday while heading to Jhapa for treatment for typhoid.

She was buried as per the Limbu rituals on Thursday. Local resident, Bhuvan Limbu, said the necklace was stolen from the grave within 24 hours of the burial.

"It seems that the body was disinterred with the belief that there were a lot of ornaments," he said, adding "The thief re-buried the body after stealing everything except the earrings."

The locals say the thief is yet to be identified and termed the act as 'extremely disgusting'. It is a tradition in the Limbu community to bury the dead body along with the deceased's ornaments and other used objects.