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Nepal businessman quizzed in Hrithik protests probe

Josy Joseph in Kathmandu

Nepal authorities have questioned the Himalayan kingdom's emerging media mogul, as investigations into the anti-Hrithik Roshan protests continue.

Jamim Shah was summoned by the Kathmandu district administration's acting chief district officer for questioning. Shah's Space Time Network dominates Kathmandu's cable network. He made a foray into print a couple of months ago and also holds a licence for a satellite channel.

Shah's two-month-old Nepali daily, Spacetime Dainik, is alleged to have dragged the anti-Hrithik protests to Kathmandu by publishing "unsubstantiated" reports on December 24. The newspaper is also accused of not publishing Hrithik's denial prominently. Violence by then had erupted in Kathmandu and claimed seven lives.

The 34-year-old businessman told a local newspaper that he was summoned to the CDO's office on Monday. "It is true that I along with our editor, Shri Acharya, presented ourselves at the office, but it is not true that I was released on bail or even arrested," he said. He was questioned about the Hrithik reports, and the manner in which his newspaper treated the episode.

On Wednesday morning, Spacetime Dainik published a signed frontpage editorial questioning the government's wisdom in not acting for over a week, and for banning Indian television channels in Nepal.

The Girija Prasad Koirala government has constituted a high-level inquiry to find out how rumours of anti-Nepal comments attributed to the Bollywood actor were published by the local media. The inquiry will also investigate if the violence in the towns was instigated by hired goons from outside.

Pradeep Shreshta, president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, told rediff.com, "The people involved were not common people, they are not seen here often." He felt the trouble-makers were hired from outside Kathmandu.

Shah, Indian intelligence agencies allege, played some role in drumming up the anti-Hrithik sentiment, which swiftly turned into anti-India protests. Indian intelligence operatives believe his newspaper, which is fast gaining circulation, played up the issue.

In an hour-long interview with rediff.com at his office, Shah dismissed the allegations against him. He said he has neither met Karachi-based fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim nor has anything to do with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. "It is absurdity, a pack of lies," he said.

He grew agitated when asked about allegations that he was a front for Ibrahim and the ISI. He cried when he spoke about his mother's death, which he felt came about because of the allegations against him. He boasted about how his company dominates Nepal's cable industry.

Space Time Network, Shah's cable company, has over 1,100 km of cable in Nepal and is the dominant player in the market. STN withdrew all Indian television channels from its network, saying the information minister had ordered it to do so during Christmas. Later, the minister's office said he had never issued such orders in the wake of the anti-India protests.

With the Indian channels going off air, it was almost impossible for Hrithik's views to get into the Nepalese media. It was only by December 26/27 that his rejoinder found a place in the local media.

"The truth will come out one day," said Shah. The young businessman has a Kashmiri background; his ancestors migrated to Nepal from the Kashmir valley six generations ago. He is married to a Hindu and his son studies at an Indian school.

He alleged that his Nepali rivals had been spreading the rumours about him. The Indian intelligence agencies, he said, "have a bad network to believe these rumours."

Shah plans to launch an English newspaper next month. He rewrote the rules of the game when he hired reporters and editors for salaries unheard of in Nepal. Today, he claims his Nepali daily has a circulation of about 65,000 copies a day.

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