Kathmandu, November 10

The Special Court today released the five match-fixing accused footballers on bail following a hearing on their judicial custody.

Justices Mohan Raman Bhattarai, Bhupendra Prasad Rai and Mahesh Kumar Pudasaini ordered the police to set the players free after depositing their bail amounts.

Former national team defender Anjan KC and goalkeeper Ritesh Thapa were ordered to deposit Rs 500,000 each as bail amount, while Rs 150,000 was set for skipper Sagar Thapa. Likewise, defenders Sandip Rai and Bikash Singh Chhetry were asked to deposit Rs 50,000 each.

Kathmandu Metropolitan Police Range had on October 14 arrested the five footballers on the charge of match-fixing in international tournaments and receiving hefty amounts in return.

The Office of the Attorney General had registered a case of subversion at the Supreme Court with a demand of life sentence as per the Crime Against the State Act 1990 on Sunday. Another accused, former physiotherapist of the national team Dejib Thapa is currently in the United States. All Nepal Football Association and Asian Football Confederation have provisionally suspended all the five players from football related activities until the final verdict.

“We are very happy with the special court’s decision. This proves that we are innocent,” said suspended skipper Sagar Thapa.

“We were charged with various offences, including match-fixing in the beginning. The court will tell what’s right and we will wait for that day,” he added “And we are hopeful the decision will go in our favour.”

Asked about his message to fans, Thapa said: “Continue loving football in the same way you have been doing for a long time. There are some accusations against five of us and the truth will come out one day. I would like to request you all not to stop supporting the sport because of this case. We all are innocent as we have been reiterating all the time.”

Public prosecutor Ashok Raj Regmi presented his case, while Harihar Dahal, Semanta Dahal, Upendra Keshari Neupane, Govinda Sharma, Rakshya Basyal, Prem Bahadur KC, Nanibabu Budhathoki, Krishna Prasad Sapkota, Ram Chandra Subedi, Pabitra Raut, Shambhu Thapa and Sardul Thapa argued that the case did not fall under the treason charge from the defendants’ side.