Nepal Police on Tuesday arrested Kailash Sirohiya, the chairman of the Kantipur Media Group, from his office at the Kantipur Publications’ headquarters in Thapathali, Kathmandu.

Sirohiya was detained based on a complaint filed by Sarlahi district's Indrajit Mahato—who is also a working committee member of Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane's Rastriya Swatantra Party Madhes province branch—at the Dhanusha district police office on April 28. In the complaint, the applicant accused Sirohiya of using multiple citizenships and demanded that the offence be investigated according to the Citizenship Act 2006.

Soon after the allegation against him surfaced, Sirohiya had promised to cooperate in the judicial investigation. But the police proceeded to detain him without inquiry based solely on the complaint.

Following the issuance of the arrest warrant, Sirohiya expressed his shock at the arbitrary nature of the warrant. “If I am to be arrested based on a single complaint, without even giving me a chance to explain myself, I too would like to lodge a complaint against Home Minister Lamichhane. Can the state arrest him too?” he questioned.

He said there was now not a shred of doubt that the home minister was having him arrested—including by getting someone close to him to lodge a case against Sirohiya in Dhanusha district—just because Kantipur Publications has doggedly pursued the cases of his involvement in scams related to various cooperatives.

Both on Monday and on Tuesday, the day of Sirohiya’s arrest, Kantipur daily, the Post’s sister publication, had published fresh evidence of illegal transfer of cooperative funds by Lamichhane into the accounts of a private television company.

The Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) issued a statement condemning the arrest, also accusing the deputy prime minister and home minister of trying to exact vengeance against Sirohiya.

“The Kantipur Publications has been consistently publishing the news of Lamichhane’s alleged involvement in various scams. Lamichhane has been issuing statements to defame the Publications’ editorial leadership and the entire media sector, and hence the federation is of the opinion that Sirohiya’s arrest is vindictive,” reads the FNJ release.

“The federation has taken seriously the arrest of Sirohiya from the Kantipur Publications, even though he had promised to cooperate in the judicial investigation on the allegations against him,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, Nepali Congress President and former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba questioned the government on Sirohiya’s arrest. “The vindictive arrest of Sirohiya, the chairman of Kantipur Media Group, is an undemocratic move by the government. The decision of the coalition government aimed at disparaging the media is regrettable,” he wrote on social media.

Another former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai also took to X to denounce the arrest. “Whatever the reason, the government's dramatic arrest of Kantipur Media Group Chairman Kailash Sirohiya does not look good,” Bhattarai wrote.

“What is ironic is that during the People’s War, when then-king Gyanendra’s government arrested Sirohiya and other fellows of Kantipur for publishing my article on the royal massacre in 2001, we, including our then [Maoist] Supreme Commander Prachanda [Pushpa Kamal Dahal] strongly opposed it. Today, I am ashamed to see the Prachanda government following the path of Gyanendra by arresting Sirohiya,” Bhattarai stated.

The arrest has been questioned by leaders of the ruling coalition themselves. Pradeep Gyawali, deputy general secretary of the ruling CPN-UML, has said that the state lost its composure in arresting Sirohiya. “There are questions on whether there was a need to arrest KMG Chairman Kailashiji,” Gyawali told Kantipur daily. “The state shouldn’t lose its cool while arresting any individual. It appears that the state didn’t exercise patience in this incident.”

Gyawali added, “There appears to be a dispute between the Kantipur daily and Home Minister Lamichhane regarding news on embezzlement of cooperative funds. It should be clarified whether this arrest is a repercussion of that.”

While addressing the press following his arrest, Sirohiya said that as a responsible citizen, he was ready to provide full support in every investigation in line with the law. “But KMG, of which I am the chairman, will not be disturbed by any retaliation and interference meted out by abusing the state power,” he said.

Prior to this, after the district court issued the arrest warrant, Sirohiya issued a statement where he claimed the warrant was aimed at blackmailing Kantipur into refraining from publishing further reports on the cooperative scam.

“It is the media’s responsibility to raise their 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,” Sirohiya said in the statement. “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.”

Senior Congress leader Shekhar Koirala has also questioned the intent of Home Minister Lamichhane following the KMG chairman’s arrest.

“He is the one holding two passports and obstructing the investigation into allegations of cooperative scam,” Koirala wrote on social media, referring to Lamichhane. “But [he] has detained the chairman of KMG, the media which stood as a watchdog of information and democracy for three decades… [This is] unacceptable.”

Likewise, Congress General Secretary Gagan Thapa lashed out at the government, particularly Home Minister Lamichhane.

“Though it is said Sirohiya was arrested for going against the law, this ill-intended move is just a pretext to exact vengeance,” Thapa writes. “This move, taken by misusing state authority, is an attempt to cover up one’s crime, divert attention away from it and stop those questioning it.”

Earlier on the day, other Nepali Congress lawmakers also objected to the arrest warrant against Sirohiya, saying it was issued at the behest of those in power. The lawmakers said that the warrant came as an attack on the press and termed it an assault on democracy. Visiting the central office of KMG at Thapathali, Kathmandu, they vowed to defend press freedom and democracy.

The lawmakers who visited KMG office to express their solidarity included former foreign minister NP Saud, Ramhari Khatiwada, Rajendra Bajgain, Raju Thapa, Bir Bahadur Balayar, Partima Gautam, Chanda Chaudhary, Dipak Giri, Kusham Thapa Magar, Ram Krishna Yadav, Shyam Ghimire and Nagina Yadav.

Earlier, while speaking during the special hour in Parliament on Tuesday, Badri Pandey, the Congress deputy general secretary, said the party would oppose Sirohiya’s arrest as a result of political vendetta.

“Every citizen should abide by the law, but if the chairman of the KMG is arrested based on political interests, our party will not tolerate it,” Pandey said. “There is much evidence against Home Minister Lamichhane to prove his involvement in embezzling 1 billion rupees from four cooperatives.”

The Congress has been obstructing Parliament for two months, demanding a parliamentary inquiry into Lamichhane, but the government has thus far ignored the call.

Lamichhane has been deflecting accusations or difficult questions by making counter-accusations or raising unrelated issues, taking a ‘whataboutery’ approach, as experts have put it.

A journalist turned politician, Lamichhane has been dismissive of mainstream media ever since he was elected to Parliament in 2022. Earlier, when he had to step down as home minister following questions about his passport and citizenship, Lamichhane had made wild accusations against the media fraternity, with the Kantipur Media Group again being the main target of his criticism.

KMG had then extensively reported on his possession of dual citizenship and passport, which led to his resignation following a Supreme Court conviction. Of late, Kantipur Publications has been consistently reporting on Lamichhane’s involvement in the embezzlement of cooperative funds.

“This example proves the state does not tolerate the media industry,” Yubaraj Ghimire, the editor of news website Deshsanchar, told the Post. “Any accused can be brought under the law but it does not mean police can detain the accused without inquiry just because of a complaint lodged against them.”

The Nepal Media Society, an umbrella association of Nepal’s mainstream media houses, has also criticised Home Minister Lamichhane.

In a statement on Tuesday, Shubhashankar Kandel, the society’s president, said the society “strongly condemns the incident of issuing an arrest warrant against Sirohiya by misusing the agency under him [Lamichhane] for personal gains and ego.”

The statement further read, “The home minister himself is guilty of misuse of dual citizenship. This reprehensible incident against the head of one of Nepal’s major media houses is condemnable. Therefore, we call on all citizens, various rights organisations and political parties to stand against this kind of undemocratic tendency which is carried out at the behest of someone to forward their interest by abusing state agencies.”

Others condemning Sirohiya’s arrest include Rastriya Prajatantra Party chair Rajendra Lingden, Janamat Party Chair CK Raut, ruling CPN (Maoist Centre) leader Ram Karki and a host of prominent people from all walks of life.