Chhimi Dema 

Thimphu police forwarded the case of the woman whose body was recovered from a septic tank in Changangkha on March 23 this year to the Office of Attorney General (OAG).

The 31-year-old woman’s family thought she went missing for three years until her body was recovered.

The body was recovered on March 23 this year, when thromde’s wet cleaner found a bone in the septic tank while cleaning the overflowing tank near the Druk Green Power Corporation office.

The building owner immediately reported to the police. Upon investigation, police recovered a decomposed body.




Officer in Command (OC) of Thimphu police station, Gembo Penjor, said that the building owner told them about the missing women who worked in a canteen nearby.

He said police traced the husband’s whereabouts and he was arrested on the evening of March 23 from Gelephu and the 34-year-old husband from Sarpang confessed to the crime.

According to police, the husband claimed he only pushed his wife who was standing at the toilet door on the evening of July 20, 2018, because she was nagging at him for his drinking habits and she died because she fell and hit her head on the faucet.

He also claimed that he was drunk that evening too.




The husband also told police that he assumed his wife was unconscious and dragged her and left her to rest on the wall while he went to close the office, but when he returned, his wife was dead.

The husband confessed to the police that in a delirium state he threw his wife in the septic tank.

Two days after the incident, on July 22, 2018, he filed a missing person complaint to the Thimphu police station. On July 27, 2018, he filed a complaint to the police that his wife eloped to Nepal.




Gembo Penjor said that the husband will be charged for involuntary manslaughter, giving false information, and failure to report the crime.

Five months ago, before the body was discovered, thromde cleaners cleaned the septic tank using an excrement suction truck. That day, the wet cleaner scooped a few buckets of water, which was when the cleaner saw the bone and planned to use the suction the next day.

OAG officials said that they were reviewing the case.