Kathmandu Post’s chairman arrested on alleged citizenship misuse issue

Kathmandu, May 21 (PTI) Hours after a top media house published strong anti-government news about alleged cooperative fund embezzlement, the group’s chairman was arrested on Tuesday on charges of misuse of citizenship certificate.

Kailash Sirohiya, chairman of the Kantipur Media Group that publishes The Kathmandu Post and Kantipur dailies, has however, denied the allegations and termed it as an act of revenge on the part of the government.

A team of police from the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office led by SSP Sanuram Bhattarai went to the Kantipur’s Office in the city and arrested him, confirmed a source at the Kantipur Media house.

Kantipur and The Kathmandu Post on Tuesday published a front page banner headline news on the alleged involvement of Home Minister Ravi Lamichhane in the cooperative fund embezzlement scam.

Earlier in the day, the District Court, Dhanusha, issued an arrest warrant against Sirohiya based on a complaint lodged at the court accusing him of possessing double citizenship certificates with two different registration numbers.

A police team also raided Kantipur Publication’s office at Thapathali in Kathmandu in the afternoon, as confirmed by a staff at Kantipur, who did not give any other details.

Sirohiya, in a statement, said that the arrest was an act of revenge by Home Minister Ravi Lamichhane. “The arrest warrant was issued against me with the intent of blackmailing Kantipur into not publishing more reports on the issue of cooperative frauds,” Sirohiya said.

“The Kantipur media group will not be deterred by any kind of revenge or interference made in the group by abusing state power,” the statement said.