Kathmandu: Nepal's former crown Prince Paras Shah has denied media reports linking him with a fake Indian currency racket operated by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, terming it as "false and malicious".
In a statement, the flamboyant crown prince denied the media reports that alleged him of being involved in fake Indian currency note racket, saying the allegations were "deceptive and ill-intended."
On Monday, media reports quoted two Nepalese citizens arrested with fake notes in Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, as claiming that ex-prince Shah was also involved in the fake currency racket run by Dawood Ibrahim from Pakistan.
In the statement, Shah said that the Indian media has "once again" targeted him with "false and malicious" intention and the news against him are directed to spread "illusion in the minds of the Nepalese people."
Shah said he is seriously concerned over the news, which were "imaginary and fictitious." It is just an instance of "well-orchestrated and condemnable propaganda directed against the sovereign people of Nepal from a foreign land, " he said.
He said he has been dragged into controversy taking advantage of the current political fluidity in the country even though he has been leading a "responsible and dutiful" life as an ordinary Nepali citizen.
Shah also hoped that the state will protect the rights of all the Nepalese when such an ill-intentioned defaming allegations are directed against them.