Police on Thursday arrested Lok Bahadur Shahi, chairperson of the Nepal Ice Hockey Association and former general secretary of the All Nepal Football Association (Anfa), on charge of swindling Rs10 million of sportsmen.

A team from the Metropolitan Police Crime Division arrested Shahi, 60, from Tokha. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dinesh Amatya said Shahi was arrested based on complaints from individuals that he took Rs10 million from them assuring that they would be part of a football game to be held from May 15-25 in Canada.

“Shahi has been providing voucher in the name of ‘Sports for All: Sports Club Nepal’. Although the voucher is of Rs250,000, the victims have said that he had collected between Rs700,000 and Rs900,000 from various people,” said SSP Amatya.   

Police arrested Shahi after Raj Kumar Shrestha, Kamal Bhandari and Pabitra Shrestha registered a complaint with police.

According to police, Shahi had set a condition that they should pay him an additional Rs1 million upon reaching Canada. He had apparently lured them, claiming that they could participate in a football match and stay back and work in Canada.

Most of the Shahi’s victims are players of Kusunti Youth Club. The sportsmen sought police’s support after Shahi failed to send them to Canada and did not return their money. Following the arrest, Shahi was presented before the Supreme Court. He has been remanded to custody for three days, said SSP Amatya.

Shahi is also a former national team goalkeeper and a member of Nepal’s squad that won gold medal at the South Asian Federation Games in 1984. He represented national team from 1982-1989 and has served as Anfa general secretary from 1995-2002 under now banned former president Ganesh Thapa.