Just hours before the LPL tournament was set to begin, the owner of the Jaffna Kings team was arrested on match-fixing charges.

Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama has ordered the remand until July 31st of two suspects, including the co-owner of the Jaffna Kings team, who were arrested by the Sri Lanka Police Special Investigation Unit for Preventing Sports Related Offences on charges of match-fixing in the 2026 Lanka Premier League (LPL) cricket tournament.

The two Indian nationals remanded are Manjot Kalra, a co-owner of the Jaffna Kings team, and Yuvraj Pushpa, who is said to have aided and abetted this racket. The Magistrate issued this order after considering the submissions made by the Sports Offences Investigation Unit when presenting the suspects to the court.

Investigating officers stated before the court that the suspect Manjot Kalra had proposed to offer over US$30,000 to alter the results of matches in this year's Lanka Premier League tournament. He had made these match-fixing proposals to Sri Lankan players Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dunith Wellalage, and Avishka Fernando, and these players immediately acted and reported the information to the Sports Offences Investigation Unit.

Subsequently, the relevant players communicated with the suspects as part of a planned operation under the guidance and direction of the investigation unit. Discussions took place between the parties regarding the initial financial proposal, and eventually, an agreement was reached for a total sum of LKR 11.5 million. The court was informed that the suspects had agreed to pay LKR 9.5 million of this amount as an advance.

Accordingly, the second suspect involved in this incident arrived at a specific location in the Colombo area with LKR 9.5 million in a black bag as agreed, where investigating officers acted and arrested both suspects. Recorded phone conversations and video footage related to this conspiracy have also been discovered by the investigating officers and presented to the court as sealed reports.

The defense lawyers appearing for the suspects rejected all these charges, stating that Manjot Kalra had neither proposed nor paid any bribe money, and that they had come to Sri Lanka solely with the aim of promoting cricket, and requested bail. However, observing that granting bail to the suspects at this stage could obstruct the ongoing investigations, the Chief Magistrate rejected the bail application and ordered the further remand of the suspects, scheduling the case to be recalled on July 31st.