The Bhutanese Leading the way.
A key eyewitness in the death of a detainee, 33-year-old Biren Kumar Kafley, has come forward with a detailed account of what he saw on the afternoon of 14 November, when the incident unfolded not far from the Lungtenphu Viewpoint.
The eyewitness, who was in Thimphu to attend the Kalachakra festival, said he was returning to his sister’s home in Semtokha when the incident occurred.
He states, “On 14th November, I went to Changlimithang to attend the event. However, I did not stay until the end as I became hungry and did not have sufficient money with me. Around noon, I decided to walk to my cousin sister’s house in Semtokha to eat.”
He said that he had changed his attire from Gho to a casual wear, wearing a torn blue jean and a pink t-shirt.
After passing the Lungtenphu Viewpoint (area with benches and view of Babesa and Olakha), he noticed a police van approaching in high speed from the Semtokha side. Before the vehicle reached him, he heard a loud noise.
“Before the police van crossed me, I heard a loud banging sound. I was startled and when the van crossed me, I saw the jail van’s door flung open and then a man jumping or falling out of the police van with his handcuffs still on,” he says.
The main eyewitness said he is not sure if the man kicked open the door and tried to escape or that he fell out as the van was speeding.
“I shouted ‘Lobey’ four times to alert the police, but the driver and another police personnel were inside the front cabin with the windows closed talking to each other and they did not hear me”.
The eyewitness said there was no police personnel in the back of the van with the detainee.
According to the main eyewitness, the detainee landed in the middle of the road on his head and one side of his handcuffs had come loose. The detainee was lying on the road and not moving.
Shocked and unsure of how to respond, he tried to signal several vehicles travelling towards Semtokha to stop and help, but none stopped except for a Santro car heading towards Lungtenphu.
With the help of the three occupants of the Santro, the injured man was lifted and moved to the footpath.
“I saw the injured man foaming and bleeding from his mouth, however, it stopped by the time the police came to evacuate him. It was about two minutes later, the police van returned, and one police personnel ran towards us. The individual who had jumped out or had fallen was taken back into the van, and the police departed from the scene.”
The Bhutanese in our last issue last week already found that the outer latch was not secure with a single rod latch.
Even the police had claimed that Biren only need push the door from inside and since it was a single rod latch, it came open.
A new question now is if Biren tried to escape or he fell out due to a badly secured door in a speeding police van.
The RBP now has a total of four eyewitnesses with the main one being who saw the person jump or fall out of the van and the three who later helped the injured detainee to the side of the road.
The statement of the main eyewitness corroborates what the police was saying that the head injury caused to the detainee was due to him jumping (or falling) out of the back of the moving van.
The RBP shared that they could trace down the three eyewitnesses in the Santro through a TikTok post. In that TikTok post by an individual, it showed that a few individuals were surrounding the injured detainee on road side of the exact location where he had jumped.
Following this the police used Thromde’s CCTV footage in the main Lungtenphu Viewpoint (to catch trash throwers) to trace the prime eyewitness and there was CCTV footage of the prime eyewitness walking across the viewpoint.
The eyewitness confirmed to The Bhutanese that the police had CCTV footage of him walking by the viewpoint towards Semtokha which enabled them to track him.
When asked why there was no CCTV footage of the detainee falling from the back of the van the police said it happened in an area with no CCTV camera.
The injury led to the brain death of the detainee and later his death leading to questions from his 19-year-old wife who is 8 months pregnant and his father and other family members.
The nature of the death also sparked a public outcry.
The RBP is conducting an investigation on the lapses that led to the incident and action will be taken accordingly.
The Narcotics, Drugs and Other Vices Division (NDOVD) of RBP who was investigating the drug case earlier said that they did not foresee the accident that led to the death of Biren.
The NDOVD earlier acknowledged that the deceased was not accompanied by police personnel at the back of the jail van. They had said Biren had been fully cooperative throughout the investigation, which had led to the arrests of two more suppliers, and the team had not anticipated any attempt to escape.
Biren was first declared brain dead at the Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital (JDWNRH) on 14th November 2025 and then dead on 23rd November at 2 pm.
The wife said the RBP took her and the family members on Friday morning to the site along with a doctor where the incident happened.
She said the police showed her a stain on the roadside saying it was probably the blood from her late husband. She said she did not remember her husband being bloody when she saw him in the hospital and she and a family member questioned the police and the doctor on how they can be sure the stain is the blood from her late husband.
The wife said the police did not inform her about the 4 eyewitnesses or about having their footage while taking the family to the site.
The wife said she is not convinced yet and wants to see the footage and other evidences for herself.
