Special Court issues bail orders for players and coach arrested on match fixing charge; All five to be released on bail

The Special Court has issued bail orders for national football players and a coach who are being detained on charge of match fixing. A joint bench of Chairman of the Special Court Mohan Raman Bhattarai and member judges Bhupendra Prasad Rai and Mahesh Prasad Pudasaini has issued bail orders for all five players and a coach. Former player and coach Anjan KC and Ritesh Thapa have been asked to register bail amount of Rs. 500 thousand each, national team skipper Sagar Thapa Rs. 150 thousand and players Sandip Rai and Bikash Singh Kshetri Rs. 50 thousand each. The plaintiff has registered subversion case against the accused seeking action as per the related Act. The footballers were arrested from different parts of Kathmandu Valley on October 14 before the Dashain vacation and presented before the Special Court on October 27. After their arrest, All Nepal Football Federation ANFA suspended the footballers from all football-related activities until the court verdict. Asian Football Confederation AFC also followed suit and provisionally suspended the footballers for 30 days. The AFC further wrote to FIFA seeking worldwide ban on them.