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Shah Shot Dead in Broad Daylight
KATHMANDU, FEB 07 -
Media entrepreneur Jamim Shah was shot dead by an unidentified gunman from a motorcycle in a busy Lazimpat street here on Sunday afternoon. A critically injured Shah was rushed to the Maharajgunj-based TU Teaching Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
His driver Mathura Man Malakar, who received a bullet injury, survived the daytime attack which took place on the main road outside the French Embassy. Shah was on the way to his Panipokhari home from a health club in Durbarmarg when the motorcycle chased his Pajero jeep, then drove alongside it and opened fire through the window.
The pillion on the motobike then shot through the windscreen after the motorcycle overtook the jeep on the road clogged with traffic, at the peak of the wedding season. Shah received two bullets — one in the chest and another in the temple. Malakar, who received the bullet injury on his left thigh, is out of danger, according to doctors.
The motive behind the attack is unclear, police said. Shah’s family members have told investigators that they had received no threat from any source. Some investigators, however, suspect the attack might have been carried out to settle personal scores. Some have also pointed fingers at the Indian underworld.
Indian media had been consistently accusing him of his links with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI. Shah had denied both allegations and had told the media many times that sections of New Delhi establishment were trying to frame him for being a Muslim.
Shah had checked out from the health club inside Yak and Yeti Hotel at around 2.15 p.m. He was attacked between 2.20 and 2.25, police said.
Superintendent of Police Ganesh K.C. said it was the handiwork of a professional sharpshooter, who used a 9 mm pistol.
The assassin was on an old Yamaha Crux with a fake number plate. It took less than two minutes for the sharpshooter to open fire and flee the scene.
The incident took place in the neighbourhood considered safe, where the French, British, Indian and Japanese embassies are located. In addition, police had even beefed up security in the area on Sunday in view of the vice president’s oath-taking ceremony in Sheetal Niwas, Maharajgunj.
Shah’s Space Times Media Network runs cable television company and television network Channel Nepal. Shah also ran newspapers which have folded up.
In 2004, New Delhi had asked the Nepali government to investigate the funding of Space Time Network, alleging that it was funded by Dawood. He was the son of a government secretary, Mahim Shah. Jamim Shah is survived by his wife and son who are currently abroad.
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