To mitigate allegations that Maoists were behind the murder of Joshi, Minister Bhatta, who is also a Maoist leader, said he is ready to be hanged if there were evidence suggesting his involvement.
"Even if there are differences, they are resolved at ideological level. Nobody should be killed for ideological reasons," he said, while speaking at a press conference organized by the Revolutionary Journalists Association.
Minister Bhatta also complained that those pointing fingers at him over the killing didn´t know much about late Joshi´s background. "JP supported the Maoists at every stage during the people´s war," said Bhatta.
He however suggested that some Maoist cadres, and not the party, might have been involved in the killing. "Some people, who have joined the Maoist party, might have been behind the murder, but the party is not involved."
Stating that he was in journalism profession for four years, Bhatta said most of the journalists reporting on JP Joshi´s murder are doing "yellow journalism" in order to deliberately defame the Maoists.
"If any kind of Maoist involvement is found in any murder, it should be checked whether such an action is according to the party policy," he said, arguing that the party cannot be dragged into controversy just because a Maoist worker commits murder.
An investigation by the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ), has found the Kailali unit of the Unified CPN (Maoist) was behind Joshi’s murder. Joshi disappeared on October 8 after leaving home for Attariya market. His body was found in a community forest in Malakheti on November 28.
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