June 15: The Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office has arrested eight people including television artist Marichman Shrestha aka Balchhi Dhrube on the charge of their involvement in online betting.    
According to Office Chief and Senior Superintendent of Police Dr Manoj Kumar KC, others apprehended in this connection are Raju Paudel, Pawan Khatiwada, Alish Rai, Jwalan Ghartimagar, Ganesh Devkota, Saroj Ghimire and Begam Nepali.    
The police said that they were charged of advertising online betting (1X bet) through a You Tube channel. Earlier, the office launched an operation over allegations that artists and You Tubers were encouraging youths to join online betting.    
Prior to this, the police had made public five others arrested for their involvement in online betting on Wednesday. They were charged of making transactions of Rs 7.4 million under the illegal online betting.    
Those arrested are Dinesh Khadka, 29, Anita Dhital, 28, Dipesh Shrestha, 27, Dinesh Chand, 25 and Ashish Lamichhane, 24.    
The Clause 125 of the Criminal Code, 2074 (2017) prohibits gambling or involvement in betting. As per the Code, anyone found engaging in or promoting gambling first time is liable for facing an imprisonment up to three months or a fine of up to Rs 30,000.    
For the second offence of playing or organizing gambling, the duration of imprisonment is up to one year or a fine of up to Rs 50,000. For subsequent offences, additional imprisonment of three months and a fine of Rs 10,000 shall be imposed each time. -- RSS