Police on Saturday arrested eight Indian nationals on charges of facilitating betting during the ongoing Nepal Premier League. Police said a team from the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office apprehended them from Balkhu in Kathmandu.

The suspects, who had been living in Samakhusi, were allegedly operating online betting activities, police said.

Superintendent of Police Kaji Kumar Acharya, spokesperson for the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office, said that the six-day remand for the eight suspects, who were placing bets in person at the ground, was secured on Sunday for further investigation.

Meanwhile, police have separately detained an Indian man and a woman originally from Nepal after uncovering what investigators describe as an “organised and coordinated attempt” to influence players during the ongoing second season of the NPL.

The arrested individuals have been identified as Dilpreet Singh, 28, of Panipat’s Ranimahal in Haryana, India and Rebika Singh Thakuri, 24, originally from Bardiya, Nepal and currently residing in Chandigarh, India. They were arrested on Wednesday, according to the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office.

The case has revived concerns about match-fixing networks targeting Nepali cricket, an issue that has surfaced occasionally over the past decade.

According to investigators, the two first met in Delhi, where they struck a friendship. The man, who operates a clothing business in India, allegedly asked the woman if she had any contact with Nepali cricketers. Police say he assured her that if she knew the players, he had “ways to earn money” by using those connections.

Their plans took shape after growing chatter about whether this year’s NPL would take place in Nepal or abroad, an officer at the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation officer said.

With renovations underway at Tribhuvan University Cricket Ground—particularly the installation of parapet seating and floodlights—the venue’s readiness for the tournament was uncertain for weeks.

As the possibility of shifting the tournament to Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates was also considered, the duo kept both options open, preparing to travel either to the UAE or Nepal. Once it was confirmed that the league would indeed go ahead in Kathmandu, they came to Nepal.

But officials of Cricket Association Nepal claimed that they had no intent of organising the NPL outside the country even if TU ground was not ready to host the event. “If not TU ground, we had the option of Mulpani ground for the event,” CAN officials said.

Even after reaching Kathmandu, police say, the two continued to coordinate through the mobile application ‘SKATE’ with associates based in India and Canada, collecting cryptocurrency deposits as part of their operation.

Investigators describe two main tactics the suspects used to lure participants into betting schemes—persuading the public to gamble on match outcomes, and trying to directly influence players under the guise of offering sponsorship.

The pair allegedly contacted players via Instagram, proposing meetings at a hotel where the players were staying. Singh and Thakuri were stationed in a hotel in Gaushala. In these meetings, arranged under the pretext of discussing sponsorship, the suspects reportedly offered money in exchange for specific actions during matches, such as intentionally getting out, dropping catches, or ensuring a loss.

Police intervened after receiving information from CAN and through tips from the players. “We took the duo under control through the players who reported the approach,” an investigating officer said. “We have confiscated their mobile phones and are analysing all digital communication. The investigation is ongoing.”

The police officer also said that as the league is still ongoing, they will not reveal the names of the players who were approached or remain under observation.

“Naming players at this stage could influence the entire tournament,” an officer said. “Several teams among the eight participating sides have had players targeted, but we cannot disclose numbers until the league concludes.”

The incident comes as Nepali cricket continues to grapple with repeated attempts by fixers to manipulate matches and players. Nepali cricket has faced high-profile integrity crises in the past as well. Although anti-corruption protocols have been strengthened, experts warn that the sport’s rapid growth and increasing visibility make it a target for international betting syndicates.

“We are closely monitoring every aspect of the tournament,” a police official said. “The integrity of cricket in Nepal is our priority, and we will pursue all leads until the investigation reaches a conclusion.”

Authorities say they will disclose more details after the tournament concludes.

Pawan Kumar Bhattarai, spokesperson for Kathmandu District Police Range, noted that Nepal’s cricket tournaments have faced allegations of betting in the past as well. “Previously, such activities were believed to take place without the physical presence of individuals at the grounds,” Bhattarai said. “But this time, it appears that people were present in person and actively attempted to fix matches. Further details will emerge as the investigation progresses.”

Back in 2023, the Nepal T20 League, the country’s first ever official franchise cricket tournament organised by CAN, was rocked by a scandal with a former national cricket captain mentioning that one of his teammates was approached with a match-fixing plan.

Three cricketers, Mahboob Alam, Mohammad Aadil Ansari and Nitesh Gupta, who were accused of spot-fixing during the league, were later acquitted by the Kathmandu District Court citing insufficient evidence to support the charges against them. The cricketers were arrested on January 23, 2023, and later released on bail.

CAN spokesperson Chhumbi Lama said that the International Cricket Council has its own anti-corruption unit, under which CAN also has an integrity unit. As that unit operates independently, the matter related to people arrested on the charge of match-fixing and the possible involvement of players does not fall under CAN’s direct jurisdiction, and all monitoring is handled by the ICC’s anti-corruption unit.

“Except for the spot-fixing allegations levelled against a few players during the T20 league organised some years ago by an Indian company using CAN’s name, none of our players has ever been found involved in match-fixing,” Lama said. “Even those who had been accused earlier have already been cleared by the court.”

Not only cricketers, Nepali national football players too have faced match-fixing allegations. However, as the accusations could not be substantiated, the courts eventually acquitted them.

A decade ago, on October 14, 2015, several footballers including Sagar Thapa, the then captain of Nepal’s national football team, were arrested by the Central Investigation Bureau on charges of fixing international football matches they played against various countries.

Police claimed that the players had deliberately lost international fixtures played since 2008 in exchange for money. Although the accused admitted to the fixing during police interrogation, they later retracted their statements in court.

And, on June 16, 2020, the Supreme Court acquitted Thapa and all the other players who had been charged with match-fixing.