SINDHUPALCHOK, Jan. 6 -- Police suspect that Sancha Lal Waiba, who is reportedly missing from Ram Bahadur Bomjan's ashram in Sindhupalchok, might have been murdered.

Security personnel searching for Waiba and three other nuns discovered nine wrappers of salt packets some 300 metres from Bomjan's ashram. They have also found pieces of coal a few metres from the place where the salt's packets were recovered.

On Friday, police raided the ashram of the controversial ascetic Ram Bahadur Bomjan in the forest of Indrawati Rural Municipality in the district, following complaints by the relatives of the people who have been missing from his shelter for years. A security source said the salt packets were recovered on Friday evening while they fou...