Former Kapilvastu mayor found dead in forest after three-day search

Kiran Singh, a former mayor of Kapilvastu Municipality, was found dead in a forest on Sunday, three days after he disappeared. His body was discovered by residents about 700 meters north of where he was last seen. Singh, 65, had gone missing on Friday evening from the Dhekhari forest in Buddhbhumi Municipality. His family and local residents had been searching for him since his disappearance.

Authorities deployed a trained sniffer dog from the Gautam Buddha International Airport and utilized drones in an attempt to locate Singh in the forest on Saturday. However, these efforts were unsuccessful. Singh, who resided in ward 3 of Kapilvastu Municipality, was elected mayor in 2017 representing the Nepali Congress. He had also served as deputy mayor after being elected in 1997. He did not win the mayoral election in 2022.

Singh was reportedly traveling to Dhekhari with the intention of establishing a commercial farm in the area. The circumstances surrounding his death are unclear, but his body was found in a forest area he was preparing for agricultural development.