Shah was declared dead at TU Teaching Hospital Maharajgunj. His chauffeur, Mathura Man Malakar, 60, received a bullet in his left leg but was saved. [break]
Shah was apparently being followed after he left Yak & Yeti Hotel-- where he took sauna bath. He was attacked by gunmen near the French embassy, while heading home to Panipokhari on his car (Na 1 Cha 2151).
The place where the incident took place is quite close to the Indian and British Embassies and is only about a kilometer away from the president´s office, Sheetal Niwas, where security personnel had been deployed in large numbers owing to the movement of Vice-president Paramananda Jha´s for oath retake.
The owner of Space Time Network, the first cable television service provider in Nepal, which also runs Channel Nepal Television, was gunned down at about 2:30 p.m. The pillion rider on the Yamaha Escort bike, with fake number plate (Ba 15 Pa 8733) as claimed by the police, caught up with his Pajero and first fired through the left hand side window and then, having overtaken, straight through the windscreen. Police has recovered a 9 mm bullet from the scene. The attackers could have used a silencer pistol as witnesses did not apparently hear sound of gunfire, said the police.
The media baron, who also ran two vernacular dailies for four years since 2001, had also courted controversy for his alleged links with Dawood Ibrahim and ISI, which he always denied stoutly.
The second son of Dr Mohim Shah, a retired senior government officer, is survived by wife Anjali and son Jacky, 24. According to family sources, Anjali had flown to East Timor for a personal visit with two other relatives a few days ago. Jacky, a young musician has been living in US.
Security officers tally the modus operandi of Shah´s murder with that of Mirza Dilshad Beg 12 years ago, who courted controversy for similar allegations.
Police arrested eight persons on suspicion of involvement in the incident till Sunday evening but an investigative official at Metropolitan Police Range Kathmandu (MPRK) said on condition of anonymity that real culprits could be hiding in ´star hotels´. According to SP Ganesh KC, chief of MPRK, the shooters had a black complexion and wore black jackets.
While there are widespread suspicions about “international links” behind the homicide, a high level intelligence source said that the killing might be an act of revenge by a local party with whom Jamim had a long animosity. The source even warned another partner of the dispute could meet the same fate.
Following the murder, Television Broadcasters´ Association Nepal (TABN) has demanded reliable security to Television channels and its owners within 24 hours. “This is not only an attack on individual, but all the broadcasters,” said Bhaskar Raj Karnikar, a central member of TABN at a press meet at TU Teaching Hospital.
Jamim´s body has been handed over to the family after postmortem. His funeral will be held on Monday.
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