Jamim Shah, the chairman of Nepal’s Space Time Network, was gunned down on Sunday by two masked men on motorbikes in the kingdom-nation’s capitol city of Kathmandu, it was reported by the BBC. He was 45.

The murder reportedly happened in the Lazimpat district and within the vicinity of the French Embassy. Shah was reported dead at a nearby hospital about an hour after being shot; treatment to his gunshot wounds was not successful.

Also shot in the incident was Shah’s driver, Mathura Man Malakar, according to the BBC. The news report stated Malakar was shot in the thigh but is otherwise in stable condition.

It was reported Shah was scheduled to make a visit at the French embassy.

The motive of the murder has not yet been determined, according to law enforcement officials who are investigating the crime. While the suspects escaped the crime scene, local police told the media they know of the license plate numbers of the involved motorbikes and will attempt to track down the murder suspects.

A media veteran of more than a decade, Shah’s career has not been without controversy.

The Indian government reportedly accused Shah of having significant ties to Pakistan’s ISI intelligence agency and to a major crime syndicate within the largest South Asian nation; Shah denied the allegations, according to news reports.

In 2000, Shah’s Channel Nepal television station was temporarily banned by the government after accrediting anti-Nepal statements to Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan. The reports against Roshan sparked a series of riots and violent attacks, claiming the lives of four people and causing damage to several Indian shops and businesses, according to the BBC.

The television station had reportedly alleged Roshan said he “hated Nepal and the Nepalese people,” though various news stories confirmed the incited statements were wrongly attributed to the Bollywood actor by Shah’s media outlet.

Shah was a Nepali of Kashmiri origin. He reportedly oversaw two newspapers that are now inoperable in Space Time and Space Time Today; Shah’s satellite network also apparently had a near monopoly on foreign content distribution, the BBC said in its report.

Last month, Buzzine Bollywood reported movie theaters across Nepal would no longer be allowed to screen Indian movies, as the United National Peoples’ Movement – the kingdom’s Maoist/Unite Communist Party of Nepal affiliate – requested a nationwide ban on all things entertainment from its southern neighbor.

The sought ban was to extend to television and radio stations, meaning Indian films, music and television programs would be excluded from Nepali audiences.

Overall, it has been a turbulent recent past for cinema in Nepal. Since last March, the Maoists have sought bans on Indian and American cinema, with both Chandni Chowk to China and Avatar recently being prevented from screening in the landlocked former kingdom nation.