Match-fixing accused Sagar Thapa and five others get clean chit

KATHMANDU, June 7: The Special Court Thursday gave a clean chit to former national football team captain Sagar Thapa and five others.

A bench of justices Baburam Regmi, Pramod Kumar Baidhya and Narayan Prasad Pokhrel gave clean chit to match-fixing accused Thapa, Sandip Rai, Ritesh Thapa, Anjan KC, Bikash Singh Kshetri and team physiotherapist Dejiv Thapa.

On October 14, 2015, the national team defender Thapa and five other members of Nepal Football Association were arrested in charge of match fixing at the domestic and international level.

Following the allegation, Asian Football Confederation suspended Sagar Thapa, Sandip Rai and Ritesh Thapa—who were still the members of national team—four days later, on October 19. Anjan KC and Bikash Singh Chhetri had already hung up their boots when they were found to be involved in match fixing dating back to eight years ago, while Anjan was the coach of A Division outfit Three Star Club.

The court later released them on bail on November 10 the same year. The court had demanded Rs 500,000 from Ritesh Thapa and Anjan KC, Rs 150,000 from Sagar Thapa and Rs 50,000 from Bikash Chhetri and Sandip Rai as bail amount.

The AFC on December 15, 2015 handed a lift to the five players. The accused had appealed against the bans, but the AFC had rejected the appeal.