The probe panel formed by the National Sports Council (NSC) to look into the irregularities in the NepalT20 Cricket League has recommended stern action against the executive committee of the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN). The investigation committee submitted its report to the NSC member secretary on Wednesday, which found several instances where the cricket governing body had breached the Sports Development Act 2020. The investigation has revealed that CAN violated Sections 28 and 44 of the Act, under which national sports associations are required to take approval from the NSC before organising any national or international tournament in the country. Also, they need to take permission from the Ministry of Youth and Sports through the NSC while signing any deal with foreign governments, organisations or individuals. Since CAN must be held accountable for these violations, the probe panel, in its four-point recommendation, has asked for the suspension of CAN for upto three months and scrapping the NepalT20 contract with the Indian company, Seven3Sports, which it had roped in as its commercial and strategic partner for the tournament. The five-member committee's findings of irregularities in the cricket league are a blot on CAN's reputation and a blow to the fledgling sport in the country.

In April last year, CAN had signed a Rs 330-million deal with the Indian Sports management company, Seven3Sports, to hold a franchise Twenty20 league tournament in the country. The first official franchise cricket tournament, organised by CAN, was supposed to be held from December 11, but was postponed till December 24 after one of the franchises withdrew from the tournament. Reports of spot-fixing and match-fixing surfaced in the media after one of the commentators of the tournament quit abruptly, accusing the organisers of turning a blind eye to multiple controversial moments. Kathmandu Knights captain Gyanendra Malla had also informed the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) of the NepalT20 League that his players had been approached for spot-fixing.

Six franchise-based team had participated in the event.

The Central Investigation Bureau (CI) of the Nepal Police is also conducting a separate probe and has already arrested two cricketers for their involvement in spot-fixing. It has identified 10 people who were involved in it in the NepalT20 Cricket League. They include people from the teams' management, former players and middlemen, who promised the players handsome sums of money and opportunities to play in international leagues. Of the 10 spot-fixers whose identity has not been revealed yet, six of them are foreigners.

As the investigation deepens, it will be interesting to watch how the government will punish both Nepalis and foreigners guilty of the crime of spot and match fixing, which it strongly disapproves. Under Nepali law, anyone convicted of the crimes can be sentenced to three years in prison with confiscation of the transacted amount. This is not the first time match-fixing has taken place in Nepal, it has happened in football already. Thus, if the offenders are let off the hook easily, it will only encourage such irregularities in other sports as well.

Abide by the fiats

After Prem Prasad Acharya, 36, of Ilam succumbed to burn injuries while undergoing treatment at the Kirtipur Hospital on Wednesday due to self-immolation in front of the Parliament building at Baneshwor on Tuesday, the Nepal Police and Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) have told the petroleum dealers not to sell highly inflammable products in plastic bottles or jars. The police and NOC have asked them not to sell the petroleum products openly, citing the risks of accidents or misuse of such products that could even be used for self-destruction. Nepal Petroleum Dealers' National Association has also said that it would follow the directives.

It is learned that Acharya had doused his body with petrol and set himself on fire. He could not have done so had the petroleum dealers strictly followed the earlier instructions given by the police and NOC. The petroleum dealers had stopped filling petrol in bottles or jars when there was an acute fuel shortage during the border blockade in 2015. Such directives are issued by the police and NOC now and then. But they are not strictly followed by the dealers, and the concerned authorities also stop monitoring after the issue of such acts and other untoward incidents are erased from the public memory.

A version of this article appears in the print on January 27, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.