Nepali community seeks funds for family of stabbing victims
The Virginia Chapter of the Non-Resident Nepali Association has organized a fundraising campaign to support the remaining family of the victims of a brutal stabbing rampage by Chhatra Thapa, 54, on Feb. 23 in Fairfax.
Thapa killed his wife, Binda Thapa, 52, and daughter, Mamta, 33, a nurse. When police arrived on the scene, described by FCPD Chief Kevin Davis, as a “bloodbath,” Chhatra was in the process of stabbing his son in law, Santosh Kumar Basnet. When he turned the butcher knife on a police officer, the officer shot him, and Chhatra died on the scene.
Basnet is still in the hospital with serious injuries. A baby boy, aged 1, was unharmed, and his future remains uncertain.
Related story: Police identify victims killed in bloody stabbing incident
The funds raised through the Nepali association’s GoFundMe campaign will support funeral and memorial expenses; medical treatment and rehabilitation; care, counseling, and long-term support for the child; and legal and other emergency needs.
The campaign has so far raised nearly $20,000 toward its $100,000 goal. “All funds will be used transparently for the direct benefit of the affected family,” the GoFundMe page states. “Your support can help this family rebuild their lives.”
Chhatra Thapa doesn’t appear to have a criminal record, and it is not known whether he had a history of domestic violence. A story in the Kathmandu Post reports he was being treated for mental illness.
Jasmine Miranda, a neighbor who lived near the Thapa family at the Margate Manor Apartments, told WUSA9 they were “kind and sweet. They were very nice people.”
A neighbor who lived across the hall, Ariana Eddlelman, called 911 after Mamta knocked on her door. She told WUSA9, “That poor woman was banging on the door with all her force and screaming for help and I was considering opening the door, but my husband said that we have kids, and you don’t know if it’s a crazy person, so I called 911.”
This is the third tragedy affecting the Nepali community in Northern Virginia in the past two years. Last June, a married couple, Santosh Pariyar and Anju Shrestha were fatally shot in a murder-suicide along with their two children, an 8-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy, at their home in Manassas Park.
In another incident, Naresh Bhatt, an Army veteran, was indicted for killing his wife, Mamta Kafle Bhatt, a nurse, in July 2024 in Manassas Park. Her remains have still not been found. A trial has been delayed to October 2026.