Journalists have been awarded for breaking three major stories: Bhutanese Refuge Scam, Bansbari Leather Shoes Factory and Land Scam and irregularities in the stock market and financial sector
KATHMANDU, MAY 16
Four journalists have been awarded prestigious awards and 2.5 million rupees from Barbara Foundation Investigative Journalism Award 2024 for their contributions to investigative reporting at an event organised in Kathmandu.
Journalists from both traditional and new media have been recognized for their unwavering commitment to investigative journalism. It is also the largest ever prize money for investigative journalism in Nepal.
Winning Journalists expressed that this has added more responsibility and encouraged them to work more diligently to establish good governance in the nation.
Dr. Sanduk Ruit, president of the foundation, stated that it has been possible to distribute Rs 2.5 million in prize money after a Nepali donor donated a large sum of money to the foundation with the intention of advancing journalism in the promotion of good governance.
According to Akhilesh Upadhyay, executive member of the foundation, 83 applications were received for the 'Barbara Foundation Investigative Journalism Award 2024.' However, after studying and researching the news submitted with the application, the jury decided on the first, second, and third prize winners through a series of discussions.
Mohana Ansari, General Secretary of the Barbara Foundation, congratulated the awardees and urged the entire journalism community to sharpen their pen. Similarly, Madan Krishna Shrestha and Hari Bansha Acharya, who were invited to present the award, expressed their delight that the journalism sector had received such a prestigious award with such a large sum, and predicted that investigative news writing would become more prevalent in the coming days.
Ram Kumar from Himal Khabar, Deepa Dahal from Ukaalo.com, Devendra Bhattarai and Matrika Dahal from Kantipur were awarded in the programme held in Kathamndu by the Barbara Foundation today.
Devendra Bhattarai and Matrika Dahal of Kantipur received first place with 1.6 million prize money jointly for doing an investigative report on the Bhutanese Refugee Scam.
Devendra Bhattarai has been awarded for his groundbreaking stories that exposed a high-profile scam involving the trafficking of Nepali citizens as Bhutanese refugees to the United States of America. The series of stories published in Kantipur daily led to the arrest and detention of several top officials, including former Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand and former and Deputy Prime Minister and former Home Minister Top Bahadur Raymajhi.
The Kathmandu District Court also jailed former home secretary Tek Narayan Pandey, former home minister Ram Bahadur Thapa's security adviser Indrajit Rai, Khand's personal secretary Narendra KC, and former Nepali Congress lawmaker Aang Tawa Sherpa, and Bhutanese refugee leader Tek Nath Rizal.
Similarly, Matrika Dahal has been awarded the first prize jointly with Devendra Bhattarai for his follow-up stories that uncover details of high-profile scam involving trafficking of Nepali citizens as Bhutanese refugees to the United States. The stories published in Kantipur Daily led to the arrest and detention of several top officials.
Deepa Dahal, a journalist at Ukaalo.com, was presented with the second prize of Rs 6, 000, 00 for reporting Bansbari Leather Shoes Factory and Land Scam.
She received an award for a landmark story published on Ukaalo.com that exposed an alleged land grab of public property by a leading corporate house (Chaudhary Group), which is led by a sitting member of parliament (Binod Chaudhary). Her continuous follow-up reporting ignited national outrage, compelling the government to initiate investigations into the irregularities.
She first published investigative news in Ukaalo on October 22, 2022, revealing the case of illegal land grabbing by the Bansbari Leather Shoes Factory and the Land Scam. Even after the news was published under the headline 'Bansbari's 10 ropani land: This is how Chaudhary Group grabbed it', Dahal continued to write dozens of follow-up stories, compelling a large portion of the country's population to speak out against the unauthorized grabbing of government land. As a result, everyone, from conglomerate business corporations to those involved in them, including lower-level employees, has been drawn into the investigation.
Ramesh Kumar of Himal Khabar was presented with the third prize of Rs 3, 000, 00 for his in-depth reporting in Himal Khabar, exposing irregularities in the stock market and financial sector, highlighting the risks of tens and thousands of ordinary Nepali investors, and prompting action from regulatory bodies. His story also led to parliamentary investigations, which asked the Commission for the Investigation of the Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to look into the case.
