Yet another baseless Indian propaganda or a modicum of truth?

Channel D: Dawood wires Nepal
SOMIT SEN

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SUNDAY, AUGUST 08, 2004 11:03:03 PM ]


MUMBAI: One of India's most wanted underworld fugitives, Dawood Ibrahim, has invested crores of rupees in a cable network in Nepal and uses it to further his interests as well as influence public opinion, especially against India, police sources have said.

India on Sunday asked Nepal to take immediate action against the Space Time company, saying it had "credible information" that Dawood had invested heavily in the company.

The Indian embassy, in a letter to the Nepal foreign ministry, asked Kathmandu to enquire into the ownership and financing of Space Time, which runs a Nepali daily and a TV channel, and take immediate action against the company in case the charges are proved.

Highly placed sources in Mumbai police said slain Nepali politician Mirza Dilshad Beg, an alleged Dawood henchman, virtually controlled the network in Kathmandu until he was murdered by Chhota Rajan gangsters outside his Kathmandu residence in June 1998. Following his killing, the cable network was headed by Jamim Sheikh, who is a Kashmiri. Senior officers in Mumbai, however, allege that Dawood still has his own men controlling this cable network and that the gangster has invested crores of rupees in this business.

An IPS officer said, "Beg had quite a few youngsters working for him. Many of these boys were Dawood gangsters and they were shown as employees of the cable network." The officer added that this cable network is believed to have been involved in giving negative publicity to Hrithik Roshan a few years ago.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/807357.cms

Noted smuggler Jamim Shah clears dues to government

BY OUR REPORTER
Noted smuggler Jamim Shah, who is operating the cable channel -- Space Time Net Work -- finally cleared the dues amounting to 4.98297 million rupees as royalty to the Ministry for Information and Communications. The Ministry in return renewed its license to continue the cable channel. Shah is believed to be the Nepal agent of Daud Ibrihim, an underground criminal gang most wanted by India.

When his channel was banned by the Ministry, Shah, chairman of the Network, created propaganda through some newspapers sponsored by him that the case was the result of a misunderstanding on the 'give and take' between the Ministry and his company. The Network programmes could not be viewed on Wednesday and Thursday, last week.

On Thursday, he cleared the dues in the Ministry.

Some sources reveal that Shah was trying to manipulate the Information and Communications Minister Jaya Prakash Gupta by offering an attractive amount of money to him. But, Gupta took the decision to send ministry officials and police to cut the Network line on Wednesday.

This was the first action of the present government against those who are trying to evade paying revenue, which is very much appreciable, say observers.

It is very much astonishing that the Network, which shuts off the line of its subscribers who fail to clear their monthly bill within two months, was found not settling the revenue of the government for four years.

A subscriber said that for two days the Network failed to provide its service to its subscribers, who had paid their bills in time. In this case, the Network has to compensate them, he pointed out. Accordingly, many of the subscribers are unhappy of those cheap programmes, specially the channel which gives adult movies during late night.

They say that such cheap programmes should be censored by the Ministry.

It is learnt that the Network has about 40 thousand subscribers in the Valley only. It is collecting Rs. 250 from general subscribers who have not used the decoder service. In this way the Network earns Rs. ten million only from general subscribers.

But, it also hides its real income, according to a source.

On the other hand, it is said that the Network clears the dues it has to give the pay TV channels through hundi in Dubai, which is illegal.

According to reports that appeared in local weeklies, Jamim Shah is also involved in drug trafficking. Nepal Jagaran, a vernacular weekly states that INTERPOL is also monitoring the activities of Shah.


http://www.peoplesreview.com.np/p-review/2000/04/27042000/noted.html

Nepal Cable King is Dawood stooge
JOSY JOSEPH

TIMESOFINDIA.COM[ TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2004 10:46:12 AM ]

NEW DELHI: The handsome young Nepali of Kashmiri-descent has a captivating smile, and an enchanting sense of hospitality. That is if you are able to meet him.

In all likelihood, Jamim Shah would be quite busy these days, answering uncomfortable questions than tending to his guests. The Indian government has officially asked Nepal to investigate the emerging media mogul's links to Dawood Ibrahim, specifically to assert that the D-Company has heavily invested in Shah's media empire in the Himalayan kingdom.

Shah is an interesting, yet mysterious, young man with a bad command over English and a fast expanding media empire in Nepal. He owns over 1,000 kilometres of cable network, a newspaper and a television channel among others. According to the Indian government, Dawood Ibraham has heavily invested in the ventures and Shah is only a caretaker for the Karachi-based Mumbai don who was declared a global terrorist by the US authorities recently.

The Indian embassy in its letter last week to Nepal government said it had "credible information" that Dawood has heavily invested in Shah's ventures and asked for an immediate investigation. The allegations are not new, but it is probably for the first time that India is claiming that it has such concrete evidence.

In December 2000, when Kathmandu was in the grip of anti-India strife and violence because of anti-Nepal remarks allegedly by Hrithik Roshan, Indian intelligence agencies were quick to point out that it was drummed up by Shah's newspaper and network. Shah's Space Time Network blocked off Indian channels even as the violence was spreading, and so denials issued by Hrithik Roshan did not reach Nepal in time. Precious seven lives were lost and yet another new year in the tourist destination was ruined.

Shah was emphatic when he denied any wrong on his part during a long interview this correspondent had with him on a rain-swept evening at his office in Kathmandu. The man laughed and often kept poker face while denying being in a Pakistani jail, or being Dawood's front man, or even a smuggler. His mother's sudden death, Shah said in tears, was because of such allegations by India and his business rivals.

This descendent of a respected Kashmiri family presented himself as a hardworking young man from a privileged background, with dreams in his eyes and contacts in right places. Shah's business ambitions had started in a fashion shop, when he was still in college. It was a rare occasion when Shah sat down with a journalist for such a long chat.

Those days, Indian officials were evasive about the kind of details they had on Shah.

But last week's letter to Nepal government indicates that Indian agencies may have managed irrefutable evidence to nail Shah. In the post-9/11 scenario and due to its heavy dependence on India, Nepal government cannot just ignore the Indian demand for detailed investigations against Shah. But it may not be easy to nail Shah, given the fact that he has friends far and wide in Nepal, and even within the palace.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/809078.cms