KATHMANDU: When the new Indian ambassador to Nepal, Rakesh Sood, took up his assignment in Kathmandu, his maiden press conference was held at a



media organisation in Kathmandu known for it connexions and ability to whip up controversies – the Reporters’ Club.

It was again the Reporters’ Club run by journalist Rishi Dhamala which organised the press interaction with CPM leader Sitaram Yechuri when he came to Nepal to show solidarity with the alliance forged between the mainstream Nepali political parties and the underground Maoists.

When UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon’s special representative for Nepal Ian Martin completed his tenure in Nepal, it was at the Reporters’ Club that he held his last press conference. It was the same organisation that gave Bollywood stars Manisha Koirala and Govinda to the media when they were passing through Nepal.

However, on Wednesday, the well-connected Dhamala, whose contacts included Maoist Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, deputy premier and home minister Bam Dev Gautam and other ministers, industrialists, politicians and foreign envoys, hit the headlines for a different reason.

The Metropolitan Police said the high-flying journalist has been arrested Tuesday for being involved with an underground organisation and is likely to be charged with violating the Arms Act and even treason.

Police showed video clippings at an overflowing press conference in which three journalists from the Terai plains, who had been arrested Monday, said they were part of an underground organisation that had entered into a deal with Dhamala over an extortion case.

Ram Suvak Mahato, also known as Pradip and Suvak, said in the recording that he was the valley in-charge of Ranavir Sena, an armed group demanding the restoration of Hinduism as the state religion. Last month, it had claimed responsibility for three small explosions in Kathmandu in which two bystanders were injured.

According to police, Pradip, along with Manoj Mahato and Birendra Kumar Mahato, were asked to collect NRS 4 million from a businessman who had allegedly been receiving threats from the Ranvir Sena. All three were recorded as saying that they had contacted Dhamala, who had offered to be their mediator and provide them with security for a fee of NRS 1 million.

The trio also alleged that Dhamala had links with the Sena leadership in India and was in touch with them by phone. Additional Inspector-General of Police Ramesh Kumar Shrestha told TNN that a special team had been formed to nab the group on the basis of information gathered by its intelligence division.

The Ranvir Sena may also have links with armed groups in India. While the Ranvir Sena in Bihar is dreaded for its might and money power, the Ranvir Sena in Nepal is a new entrant and so far, has not been able to claim responsibility for any large-scale terror activity.

Shrestha said that if found necessary, the government of Nepal would seek the help of the central government of India as well as Bihar to probe any possible links between the two Senas.

Dhamala, who also wrote columns and had interviewed luminaries like Karan Singh, was once regarded as being close to Nepal’s main opposition party, the Nepali Congress. He had also been planning to contest elections.

The arrest has caught Nepal’s media groups in a bind. The leading organisations, that have been agitating since last month in protest against the brutal murder of a woman journalist in the Terai, are now closely monitoring the scene before beginning any protest movement for Dhamala’s release.

Dhamala said he was innocent. As the Kathmandu district court Wednesday sent him to custody for 14 days, the paper boy turned newsmaker told journalists from the police van taking him away that he had been framed.