(CEHURDES/IFEX) – On 10 July 2003, officials from the communal organisation Agrwal Sewa Kendra prevented an unidentified reporter from the daily newspaper “Samacharpatra” from covering an event in Kamal Pokhari, Kathmandu. The incident followed the publication of a report in “Samacharpatra” about business leader Mohan Gopal Khetan and his Everest Insurance Company, which angered the […]
(CEHURDES/IFEX) – On 10 July 2003, officials from the communal organisation Agrwal Sewa Kendra prevented an unidentified reporter from the daily newspaper “Samacharpatra” from covering an event in Kamal Pokhari, Kathmandu. The incident followed the publication of a report in “Samacharpatra” about business leader Mohan Gopal Khetan and his Everest Insurance Company, which angered the organisation. Agrwal Sewa Kendra was holding an event to honour King Gyanendra on the occasion of his 57th birthday.
“Samacharpatra” carried a news report on 8 July detailing financial improprieties at the Everest Insurance Company. Khetan is chairman of both the insurance company and Agrwal Sewa Kendra.
In a separate incident, Chief District Officer Tuk Prasad Regmi, who is responsible for granting citizenship in the kingdom, issued verbal threats against journalist Chandra Dev Kamati, a “Samacharpatra” contributor, during an interrogation in Siraha District, eastern Nepal. Regmi took action against Kamati following the publication of a news report that brought him difficulties, entitled “Fake Citizenship Holders and Providers Arrested”.
In yet another incident, on 14 July, Kathmandu District Police Inspector Kedar Singh Rathour verbally abused and manhandled Pushker Thapa, a reporter from “Spacetime” daily, in his office. Thapa had been monitoring the police inspector’s involvement in a shady financial deal.
