Eight Artists including ‘Raju Master’, ‘Balchhi Dhurbe’, ‘Myakuri’; Accused of promoting Online Betting

Kathmandu: Police have arrested artists, who have been promoting online and casino gambling-related apps on their social media.

Artists have been arrested in huge numbers at once, for promoting and advertising online betting apps. These apps are considered illegal as per the Constitution of Nepal.

Police arrested 8 artists including Raju Paudel (Raju Master), and Marichman Shrestha (Balchhi Dhurbe). Spokesperson SP Rabindra Regmi, Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office, informed that the artists were arrested on Wednesday.

Pawan Khatiwada ‘Myakuri’ , Alish Rai, Jwalan Gharti Magar, Gnaesh Devkota, Saroj Ghimire and Begam Nepali have also been arrested.

Article 125 of the Criminal Code of Nepal 2074 prohibits gambling or betting. In sub-section 920 of article 125, 910 of (a) the person who gambles or plays for the first time shall be imprisoned for three months or a fine of up to 30 thousand rupees.

And in sub-section (b) the person who gambles or plays for the second time shall be imprisoned for up to one year and fined up to 50 thousand rupees. Repeated for subsequent offenses, Imprisonment for an additional three months, and a fine of up to 10,000 rupees.

Police even disclosed 5 people, who were found conducting online gambling on ‘1X Bet’ of more than 1 Arba rupees, on Wednesday.  Police have started to take action against the ones, who have been promoting the betting and casino gaming applications on social media.

The arrested artists had been promoting the online gambling application ‘1X Bet’ on their YouTube. They had been promoting the ways of getting the steps of getting discounts on the application by using the promo code on YouTube.