Kathmandu : The Press Council Nepal, country’s media regulatory body, on Tuesday announced closure of six online news portals for spreading rumours.

The Council today wrote to Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) to close khabarmala.com, kalapanipost.com, media20post.com, ajakonaya.com, galaxysevenexpress.com and sajhamedia.com for spreading rumours on the disputes between Rupa Sunar and Sarswati Pradhan.

The case was relating to an issue of house rent to Sunar at Pradhan’s apartment in Babarmahal in Kathmandu. These online portals had carried out fake news claiming that Rupa Sunar received Rs 15 million in assistance from the European Union (EU) to sensitize the issue against untouchability.

Sunar had lodged a complaint in the Council citing those news portals encouraged racism and caste-based discrimination and reported false stories including acceptance of fund from the EU to fuel ethnic conflict.