Dhungana, 22, had been attacked for publishing a news item titled "Smuggling and commission practices increasing" in Ghodighoda Sandesh weekly that is published from Sukkhad in Darak-5, around 65 kilometers from the district headquarters Dhangadi.[break]
The news had claimed that smuggling of goods worth millions from Lalbojhi, Khagroula, Bhajani and other areas had been thriving with connivance of the police. Dhungana, who is also the publisher of the weekly, had mentioned in the report that police had accepted bribe for 320 sacks of cement smuggled by New Chaulagain Traders and also fleeced the clients of female sex workers in Mudha.
Dhungana said Shyam Acharya, a local businessman, had accused him of sullying the image of the place and warned him to "be aware." Dhungana said president of the Market Management Committee, Shyam Sapkota, had also accused him of bringing disrepute to Sukkhad.
Dhungana lodged complaint against Acharya and Sapkota on Wednesday, but no arrests have been made despite Chief District Officer (CDO) Narayan Prasad Bidari claiming that police have been mobilized to nab the culprits.
Meanwhile, local journalists came down heavily on the police during a protest program organized in Sukkhad on Wednesday. Central Member of the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) and Coordinator of its Far West coordination Committee Manmohan Swar decried the silence of police in the incident.
Speaking at the program local media persons claimed that police have refused to act against the perpetrators as police inspector Hem Raj Bhatta accepted bribes from them.
A group of five persons who came on motorcycles had abducted Dhungana from Naya Bazar of Sadhepani on Tuesday afternoon. "I had no hopes of seeing you again when they took me to a dense forest and sliced my fingers," Dhungana told media persons Wednesday.
The group had taken Dhungana under control at three in the afternoon and held him captive at the Mouhanyal Community Forest for around three and a half hours. "They shouted profanities at me from behind when I had advanced around 150 meters from Naya Bazar of Sadhepani, and asked me to go to jungle for a talk. They started to thrash me when I refused and took me to the forest forcibly," Dhungana said.
"One of them had a khukuri while another had a rod. They threatened me saying that nobody would know if they killed and buried me there," Dhungana added. "One of them then suggested slicing my fingers and smearing the cut with salt and sour syrup, which they did."
"Before releasing me they said ´We won´t kill you today. This is our warning but if you dare to write news against us or tell what happened today, you will suffer,´" said Dhungana. Dhungana, worried about his safety, then went to his uncle´s house around two kilometers from Sukkhad and spent the night there.
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