Reporter, Kathmandu
February 9
India's notorious mafia kingpin Chhota Rajan is said to have owned up the responsibility over the killing of a media man in Nepal, media reports say. A man called Bharat Nepali claiming to be the affiliate of Chhota Rajan called up the office of Space Time Network that Mr. Jamim Shah owned and said in Hindi they killed him.
He claimed that Jamim was killed for being engaged in anti-Indian activities. Indian intelligence agency RAW and media organizations frequently had blamed him of having close ties to another mafia gangster Daud Ibrahim and Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI. Mr. Jamim vehemently denied the links with any of them.
According to past records, Chhota Rajan's group has been given Indian government's protection. In many occasions in the past Indian secret agents were believed to be protecting the members of mafia gang. Some news papers in Nepal claim that Chhota Rajan has been bribed by Indian secret service to murder the leaders opposed to Indian influence in the Southasian region.
Security forces in Nepal haven't yet verified the claim made by the group. Prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal is said to have ordered the formation of a commision to investigate the murder.
Members in the Nepalese Parliament have questioned the security situation in the country when such the murder can take place at a heavily guarded area in the capital. The location of the murder is surrounded by foreign diplomatic missions as well as country's high profile figures.
Police sources say, one of the two persons who came on the motorcycle to murder Shah is an Indian national. The source said, he also carries Nepal’s forged citizenship certificate.
Media tychoon Mr. Shah once commanded a massive media networks in Nepal ranging from newspaper to television. He is also attributed to have started the first ever cable television in the tiny Himalayan republic.
The murder of Jamim Shah comes amid allegations by Nepal Communist party chairman Prachanda few weeks ago that India also orchestrated the murder of famous Nepalese nationalist politicians like late king Birendra and CPN (UML) leader Madan Bhandari. The culprits behind the killings of the politicians and king Birendra have never been brought to justice in Nepal.
