The Special Court on Tuesday granted bail to the five footballer facing subversion charges for their alleged role in fixing various international matches.

A division bench of Special Court chaired by Mohan Bhattarai issued the release order after conducting detention hearing on treason charges filed against the four current and former national players. The court has demanded a bail amount of Rs 500,000 each from coach Anjan KC and goalkeeper Ritesh Thapa, Rs 150,000 from skipper Sagar Thapa along with Rs 50,000 each from Sandeep Rai and former international Bikash Singh Chhetri, the Special Court said. The five will be released after the bail amount is deposited.

National team skipper Thapa along with his deputy Rai, second-choice goalkeeper Ritesh, former player-turned- coach KC and defender Chhetri were arrested by Nepal Police on October 14 for  their alleged involvement in fixing Nepal’s international matches.

After the order, the footballers claimed they were innocent. “We have been maintaining that we are innocent. We will comply to the court decision,” said Ritesh. The players, earlier, had accepted their guilt under police custody.

Skipper Thapa urged Nepali football fans to stick with the support they have given to the game. “Whatever has surfaced outside, we would like to urge the Nepali football lovers to keep supporting the game,” said Thapa. Nepal Police had claimed that Thapa and KC, who once coached current National League Champions Three Star, were the main players of the fixing scam.  

The Office of Attorney General had registered a case with the Special Court seeking for life-imprisonment against the accused players under the Crime against State and Punishment Act, 1989.

Apart from the five players arrested, a physiotherapist, Dejiv Thapa, was also charged with treason in absentia. Thapa, who is currently in the United States of America, is accused of receiving at least $1,000 from Malaysian footballer and suspected match-fixer Kesavan Pattan.

Nepal Police, in collaboration with Asian Football Confederation and Sportsradar Security Service, had arrested the five footballers following a year-long investigation. They are alleged to have been involved in match-fixing since 2009.