Police on Wednesday released Chairman of Kantipur Media Group Kailash Sirohiya, nine days after he was arrested from his office in Kathmandu.

Lalitpur Police released Sirohiya on the condition that he appears before the police when summoned. The release was based on approval from the Dhanusha District Attorney Office and a letter from the Dhanusha District Police Office to Lalitpur Police to release him.

Sirohiya’s lawyer Raman Karna told the Post that police released him with the approval of the Dhanusha District Attorney Office.

“He was let go on the condition that he appear before police when summoned. The attorney office decided that there is no need to keep him in custody for further investigation,” said Karna.

The attorney office decided to release Sirohiya after examining the facts, evidence and the seriousness of the accusations.

Sudeep Dangal, joint attorney at the Dhanusha District Attorney Office, said his office decided to release Sirohiya after analysing the facts and evidence uncovered during the investigation.

No basis was found during the investigation to prove the allegations of the damage, jail and fine in relation to citizenship offence. Concluding that the flaws seen while issuing the citizenship certificate needed to be rectified at the administrative level, officials at the District Attorney Office Dhanusha had instructed the district police to wrap up their investigation without delay and furnish a report.

A then administrative officer of the Dhanusha District Administration Office had said the signature on the copy of Sirohiya’s citizenship certificate is authentic and his own.

On Saturday, police in Dhanusha interrogated Kashiraj Dahal, who was administrative officer in the district 24 years ago, on the issue. During the interrogation, Dahal said the sign on Sirohiya’s citizenship copy was his own and was issued based on the original document.

This happened as some people have questioned the authenticity of the signatory and other details of the citizenship document.

This clarified a major point of confusion over the copy of the citizenship certificate obtained by Sirohiya in 2000.

Meanwhile, in a statement after his release, Sirohiya said the District Police Office, Dhanusha, with consent from the office of the District Attorney, “released me saying ‘it is not necessary to keep me in custody for further investigation’” as per Clause 15 (1) of the Criminal Procedural Code 2017.

“There is no doubt that I was detained to weaken the KMG's journalism and terrorise other media outlets,” he stated.

It’s a blatant irresponsibility of the district administration office to arrest a person just because two service seekers have the same citizenship number, rather than carrying out a study within its mechanism, Sirohiya said. “Moreover, I was detained ignoring the written opinion of the district administration office that a citizen should not be punished for the administrative flaw.”

Doubts over the authenticity of the official signature on his citizenship's copy could be resolved if it was tallied with other documents that the then administrative officer signed, Sirohiya argued. “But a serious charge was levelled against me that I added some letters on my citizenship certificate.”

This problem could have been solved immediately if the officer who issued the citizenship certificate was called and asked about the signature. “People have already gotten an answer for why I was detained and the government officers were not interrogated. I want to keep it in the public record that the police deliberately delayed inquiry with the government officers as well as a forensic examination of the signature despite repeated requests from my lawyers after my arrest,” Sirohiya added.

The authorities thus challenged the rule of law, he argued. “The charge against me has been cleared since the officer concerned asserted that the signature on my citizenship certificate was his.”

After his release on a general date on Wednesday evening, Sirohiya said he was ready to help with further investigation into the case.

“Police kept me in custody for nine days but did not perform a basic investigation. I will seek legal remedy to hold all those involved in this scheme accountable,” he said. “And I challenge those who spread rumours that I have two citizenship cards, I am non-Nepali and that there are no dates and signatures on my citizenship certificate to prove their allegations.”

Sirohiya also warned of legal consequences for those persons and groups who cannot justify their claims.

Sirohiya, who obtained his citizenship by descent on September 10, 1979, obtained its duplicate copy from the administration on September 14, 2000. The aforementioned Kashiraj Dahal was the district administrative officer at the latter date and he had signed the copy of the citizenship.

As the police recorded his statement on Saturday, Dahal made it clear that he had signed and issued the citizenship copy. Dahal retired from the government service as joint secretary of the home ministry a few months ago.

Police arrested Sirohiya on May 21, weeks after Rastriya Swatantra Party cadre Indrajit Mahato filed a complaint at the District Police Office in Dhanusha stating that the number on Sirohiya’s citizenship certificate was the same as that of another person Shivaji Sahu Teli’s citizenship certificate.

He was presented before the Dhanusha District Court which remanded him to custody for three days. The court then twice extended his remand by three days. The remand was due to expire on Wednesday.

Sirohiya, who was admitted to the Kavya Hospital in Janakpur after experiencing heart-related problems on May 25, was brought to the Capital and taken to the Nepal Mediciti Hospital, Lalitpur on Tuesday. He was admitted to the coronary care unit of the hospital.

Sirohiya’s arrest drew widespread condemnation. Various organisations representing politics, media, civil society, law and human rights, among other sectors, had expressed their serious concerns over the arrest.

The arrest came following the publication of a series of reports by Kantipur Daily on the scam involving embezzlement of tens of millions of rupees from multiple cooperatives by Gorkha Media Network, which was jointly run by Gitendra Babu (GB) Rai and Lamichhane.

Lamichhane, who left the media to launch the Rastriya Swatantra Party in 2022, has severely criticised the KMG for a series of reports on his alleged involvement in the scams. RSP worker Mahato had filed the complaint at the Dhanusha district police office.

Lamichhane repeatedly attacked Kantipur Media Group from various platforms as the publication didn’t stop disclosing more facts showing his involvement in the scams.

Sirohiya on Wednesday evening expressed gratitude for all the support he received in this episode in the home administration’s “conspiracy against me”.

“I am grateful for the voices raised for justice by the civil society, diplomatic communities, national and international press and human rights organisations, and legal practitioners,” Sirohiya stated.

“Thank you to the people in Nepal and abroad and especially the residents of Janakpur who expressed their faith in Kantipur in the face of such misleading information. I want to express my commitment that Kantipur will make no compromise while executing its professional duties. I want to note that the KMG will stand up to any attacks in pursuit of fearless journalism.”