Five months have passed since Ram Chandra left his Rockdale home.
According to his wife Shova, the family had been informed by the police that after he left the café, he went to a nearby Seven-Eleven and bought two cans of Red Bull.
She told SBS Nepali, her husband Ram Chandra, was captured in the CCTV camera in an apparently jovial mood.
According to Shova, Ram Chandra left the family home at around 4:30 pm and used a bank card registered to him through his business. He paid $75 for cab fare - to Bondi.
The family believes he went to Bondi beach in a taxi, as the police informed them that he was seen in the CCTV footage of a local liquor store buying two bottles of wine. He then used the same card to pay for two bottles of wine.
There was an open space outside the liquor shop, and Ram Chandra didn’t appear in any other surveillance cameras after that
St George Police has also verified the information provided by family and told SBS Nepali the investigation into the disappearance of Ram Chandra is continuing.
Ram Chandra Khadka during happier times. Photo: Facebook Source: Facebook
Shova also told us the police have also expressed the possibility of the matter to proceed to coroner’s court, but she was not sure what that might mean.
“I can’t explain what kind of pain I am going through,” says Shova Khadka, Ram Chandra’s wife, who says she is living between hope and despair.
Shova’s husband disappeared from the day she thought it would be a new beginning for both of them.
How Shova remembers that day
Monday, September 10 was the opening day of the couple’s restaurant, the Everest Sekuwa Cafe and Bar.
It was a busy day from the morning, as the pair woke up earlier than usual and headed straight to the restaurant.
Monday, September 10 was the opening day of the Everest Sekuwa Cafe and Bar. Source: sbs nepali
But, after a few hours, according to Shova, her husband complained of dizziness.
“I thought, it’s maybe he hadn’t had anything to eat all morning, so I plated him some food.”
Ram Chandra told her he wanted to rest, so he left the food on the table and headed home. Just before leaving, he promised Shova he would be back in a couple of hours to help her set up for the anticipated evening rush.
"It was about half past two," Shova remembers.
He did not return. When Shova made it home at around 11 pm, tired and curious about her husband, he was not there either.
Update from the police
New South Wales Police issued a public appeal to try and find Ram Chandra three days after his disappearance.
St George Police Area Command was notified, and a search in the Rockdale area and surrounds began.
That was the last formal update from police, but after three months police appealed again for public assistance to locate him, ten days before Christmas.
Family life
Shova remembers her husband and father of three sons as a happy and understanding family person.
The Khadka couple came to Australia in 2008 under a skilled migrant visa stream with their two sons now aged 18 and 26. They also have a third child, who is now six.
Shova says they never had a big problem in their relationship and recalled how people used to call their family an ideal one.
“For one second, I didn't think there was anything wrong with him,” she says. “Now that he's gone, leaving us all by ourselves, I am dumbfounded."
The only thing, according to Shova, which might have troubled Ram Chandra was probably an incident of drink driving.
Shova says that he had a dangerous car accident because of his excessive alcohol consumption and that after that incident he only drank occasionally.
She added that the family is devastated by the incident and moreover their six-year-old youngest son is traumatised after his father went missing.
The pain Shova is going through is more to do with not knowing her husband’s whereabouts.
“I don’t know what has happened to him, but if he is alive I want him back, and if not I want his body.”
Appeal from the family
According to Shova, she has tried everything possible to seek help. She had talked with community organisations including Non-Resident Nepali Association Australia (NRNA-A) and had asked the Nepali embassy many times for assistance.
“Sometimes they don’t receive a call, so my son had sent an email too, but we haven’t got a reply from them. Now I don’t know what to do,” she says.
