KATHMANDU, July 28: The missing Hayu family from Golanjore Rural Municipality in Sindhuli, whose sudden disappearance sparked concern, had reportedly reached Pokhara and stayed at a hotel there.
According to the operator of Hotel Janani in Pokhara, the family members arrived on Saturday and checked out the following day. They had booked three rooms at the hotel.
The revelation adds a new dimension to the ongoing search for the 16-member family, led by Urmila Hayu, that has been missing from their home since Monday morning.
Food crisis looms large as drought hits Madhesh districts

Meanwhile, police have made contact with two members of the family—Sujata Hayu and her husband Ayush Shrestha. According to DSP Suryaprakash Subedi at the District Police Office, Sindhuli, the couple had been living in Kathmandu for several months. “Sujata and Ayush have come into contact with us. It has been confirmed that they have been residing in Kathmandu,” DSP Subedi said.
Although Sujata was initially listed among the missing, police investigations revealed that she had not been in the village for some time. Her name had been included in the missing persons list by villagers unaware of her whereabouts. Sujata told police she had not been in touch with the rest of the family.
The remaining family members are still out of contact, and authorities continue to search for them. Earlier, police had traced the last mobile location of some family members to Simandichhap in Ramechhap Municipality–9. Mobile phones belonging to the family had shown signals from this location before being switched off.
DSP Bhola Kumar Bhatt of the District Police Office, Ramechhap, noted that signal overlap may have caused the phones, though possibly still in Sindhuli, to connect with mobile towers in Ramechhap. “The Simandichhap tower might have picked up signals from the family’s residence area in Sindhuli,” he said.
Despite this possibility, police teams from Sindhuli and Ramechhap have been deployed to search the suspected location and its surroundings. The Ramechhap police have also conducted door-to-door inquiries in wards 8 and 9 of Ramechhap Municipality—areas predominantly inhabited by the Hayu community.
Authorities are still working to determine the exact movements and intentions of the missing family, as concern grows over their prolonged absence and lack of communication.