Kathmandu, February 16:

Detained journalist Rishi Dhamala refused all charges levelled against him by the police while recording his statement before the public prosecutor yesterday.

He said he was innocent and was clueless about why the police levelled so serious charges against him. He said the charges against him were baseless. “I don’t know. I am unaware of it,” Dhamala, chairman of the Reporters’ Club Nepal, told the prosecutor in response to the latter’s questions.

The police investigators yesterday grilled him before the Kathmandu District Government Attorney Brajesh Pyakurel. The investigation officers had asked around 25 questions to Dhamala. Dhamala said he was not linked to Ranabir Sena and the blast near the Constituent Assembly venue.

The police have charged Dhamala under Arms and Ammunition Act, 1963, for his alleged links with the Ranabir Sena. The police have claimed his links with the Sena and the blast. They had made public an alleged conversion between dhamala and co-accused Subhak Mahato and Birendra Kumar Mahato. Dhamala, however, claimed that it was not his sound in the videotape.

Dhamala is in 14-day police remand. A habeas corpus petition seeking his release is sub-judice in the Supreme Court. His case has been referred to a special bench of the court.