Kathmandu, October 30
Police have reached the office of online news portal Diyo Post in Anamnagar, seeking to speak with its Editor-in-Chief Sudeep Bishwakarma and News Coordinator Madan Dhungana.
Four plainclothes police officers arrived at the office, according to a journalist working there. The officers said they had come to take Bishwakarma and Dhungana with them for a conversation, the journalist told Onlinekhabar.
The development comes amid reports of police visits to several media offices and the detention of multiple journalists on Friday.
Police have taken Bishwamani Subedi of Nepal Press into custody. They have also detained Shobharaj Baral, a journalist with Motivate News, after plainclothes officers arrived at the outlet’s office in Bijulibazar, according to Janmadev Jaisi, president of the Working Journalists’ Association.
Dhiraj Basnet, editor-in-chief of DNA Khabar, has also been taken into police custody. A journalist working at the outlet said Basnet received a phone call from the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office in Teku in the afternoon, asking him to come in connection with an alleged eSewa scam.
Basnet went to the office, but was later told that he would have to remain there, the journalist said.
Meanwhile, five plainclothes police officers have reached the office of Naya Patrika daily, seeking its correspondent Navaraj Mainali. According to Editor Khagendra Pant, the officers said they needed to take Mainali to the Cyber Bureau. Pant said they had not presented an arrest warrant and were waiting at the office.
Police have also visited Diyo Post after the outlet published a report alleging that it had received threats over a news story concerning the chief justice.
