Devi Prasad Dhital alias Hemraj, the chairman of community radio Tulsipur FM, in the western Nepal district of Dang, has been murdered. Shot in the chest on Thursday, he died after being rushed to a hospital in Tulsipur, Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) has reported.
Dhital was shot Thursday evening while travelling on a motorcycle. After bringing him down with their first shot, his killers shot him two more times in the chest. Police arrested a man suspected of being one of the killers.
The ministry of home and as well as the information and communication ministry condemned the incident and promised to arrest those responsible. Businessmen’s associations paralysed activity in Dang by calling a marketplace strike in protest against his murder. The Federation of Nepali Journalists sent a mission led by its secretary-general, Poshan KC, to carry out an investigation.
The third media owner to be killed since the start of the year, Dhital was also a local activist of the ruling party Nepali Congress. The motive for his murder is not yet known. He leaves a wife and two daughters.
“We urge the local and national authorities to assign enough police officers so that the suspects can be arrested quickly and a thorough investigation carried out,” Paris-based RSF said. “Those who decided to silence the head of Tulsipur FM know that Nepal’s community radio stations are influential and play a key role in disseminating news and information.”
“The killings of media owners in Nepal are a great cause for concern,” said Bob Dietz, Asia programme coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). “The attacks cast a shadow over the country’s young, emerging media, which faces pressures from all quarters in Nepal. These cases should be resolved quickly to remove the threat they cast over journalists.”
