Valley
Sports betting cartel busted
Police arrested former Nepal international footballer and coach Anjan KC, along with five others, on charges of illegal betting on international football and cricket leagues.Police arrested former Nepal international footballer and coach Anjan KC, along with five others, on charges of illegal betting on international football and cricket leagues.
Mobile phones, laptops and cash were recovered from the suspects when the Metropolitan Police Range Kathmandu arrested them.
SSP Bishwaraj Pokhrel paraded them before the media in in the Capital on Tuesday.
More than 300 people including Nepali and Indian citizens are involved in the crime. Gangster Dawa Lama, who was shot in Bouddha a few months ago, is also allegedly involved in betting.
Gaurav Tiwari is the alleged mastermind of the racket. He reportedly worked with Indian citizen Amrit Agrawal aka Nagaraj earlier but started his betting business after a conflict.
For the purpose, Tiwari created the master account ‘Gaurav300’ in the London-based msa.lcexch.com from which he operated 24 assistant accounts. The total transaction is said to be Rs74,702,000, all in cash.
Dinesh Bogati, who is also in police custody, helped Tiwari by collecting cash from their agents and also delivering it to them.
Bhupendra Shamsher Kunwar is said to have been assisting Tiwari since 2015 with his account ‘Bhupen0000’ from the same London-based website. A transaction of Rs32 million was done in Kunwar’s account during the Indian Premiere League (IPL) that concluded on Sunday.
Officials said KC worked with Kunwar for about two years. KC would mainly be involved in betting on IPL and the UEFA Champions League matches. KC’s account shows a total transaction of Rs2.7 million.
Another culprit, Bijay Shrestha has been in the business with Kunwar for one year. Shrestha’s account shows a total transaction of Rs17 million. Narendra Suwal had been aided by Shrestha, through Kunwar, for about a year. His account saw a total transaction of Rs7.7 million in the period. The Kathmandu District Court has extended their custody by five days for interrogation. KC was previously arrested, along with four others, on match-fixing charges and banned from football-related activities for life. He got a Special Court bail.