Slain Journalist's 'pen' offered Rs 10,000

Kathmandu, Nov 13(UNI) The 'pen' exhumed along with the body of slain journalist Birendra Sah was offered Rs 10,000 by a lawyer in Kathmandu, even as the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) has outrightly refused to sell it.

A businessman from the capital had expressed a desire through a local newspaper to buy the pen for Rs 10, 000 or even more as a way of honoring the late journalist, Kantipur said.

''Though we could not save Sah's life, we have obtained a pen that is too precious for us to sell,'' FNJ president Bishnu Nisthuri was quoted as saying.

''The FNJ won't sell the pen at any price, he added.

Sah was murdered by suspected local Maoists after abduction last month.

FNJ has already taken consent from Sah's family to keep and cherish the pen.

''This pen is also a lively testimony of painful memories, and we don't want to devalue it through an auction,''said Mr Nisthuri.

Police had exhumed Sah's dead body from a forest area near Dumarwana on Thursday evening, 35 days after his death. They had found a citizenship certificate, a press identity card and a pen tucked inside Sah's pocket.

Bishnu Bhandari, a lawyer by profession had contacted a reporter on to express his wish to buy the pen.

''I only wanted to offer my respect to the pen by buying it,'' said the lawer Mr Bhandari said.

UNI