Scribe gets rough deal over PADT story

KATHMANDU, Aug 8: Shutter tenants seized Arjun Subedi, a journalist with Nagarik daily, for around an hour on the premises of Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) office on Sunday afternoon for reporting about the surprisingly low rent that the tenants occupying 45 shops on the temple premises paid to the trust.



The tenants encircled Subedi at around 3:45 pm on PADT premises where he had gone for another story. [break]



The son of a tenant, Ganga Ram Sahukhala, uttered profanities at Subedi and tried to manhandle him even as others prevented him. "They asked me to name the PADT employee I had quoted in my story and told me I would not be allowed to leave the premises until I divulged the source," Subedi said.



Subedi then called his Associated Editor Guna Raj Luitel on his cellphone and was rescued by a police team from Metropolitan Police Sector, Gaushala.



"We went there after hearing about the detention of a journalist. But he was not detained when I reached there and was speaking on his phone. I asked him if he was the person and brought him to our office at Gaushala on the police van," said Police Inspector Santosh Rathod.



The tenants, however, denied doing anything wrong to Subedi. "We just asked him to divulge the name of the PADT employee he had quoted in the news carried by Nagarik on Sunday," Sahukhala argued.



Member Secretary of PADT Sushil Nahata downplayed the incident that occurred on PADT premises and claimed that the issue was flared up.

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