Chairman of Kantipur Media Group Kailash Sirohiya on Tuesday said Kantipur Media Group will never compromise on its editorial independence and responsibilities.

On Tuesday, Dhanusha District Court issued an arrest warrant against Sirohiya over a ‘citizenship-related issue’.

In a statement, Sirohiya said the arrest warrant was issued with the intent of blackmailing Kantipur into not publishing more reports on the issue of cooperative frauds.

“It is the media’s responsibility to raise voice and demand justice and fair investigation into all those involved in the embezzlement of the hard-earned savings of more than 7.1 million depositors in various cooperatives,” said Sirohiya. “There is no doubt that the filing of the complaint and the issuance of the arrest warrant against me without any interrogation has been done to blackmail Kantipur into not publishing more reports on the issue and to divert attention.”

Sirohiya asserted that Kantipur will not back down even an inch from raising its voice against the wrongdoings in the society, including on the cooperatives scam.

“The office bearers who abuse their authority and misuse police administration to exact vengeance against the chairman of a media house based on the news they publish should also answer when there will be an investigation into the individual who came to power through political bargaining that entailed getting the Attorney General to certify that he would not be prosecuted for holding dual passports,” he said.

Sirohiya said he is ready to cooperate in every investigation conducted as per the law.