25 days on, Haryana Police yet to nab wrestler who ‘spiked’ Narsingh’s food
27-year-old grappler missed Rio bus after testing positive in a dope test
ROHTAK: The Rio medal dreams of wrestler Narsingh Yadav are over, but a clean chit in the police investigation back home has become extremely crucial for him to prove his innocence after the Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS) gave its verdict against him on Monday, calling his consumption of banned substances ‘intentional’.
However, after 25 days of registering an FIR, the Haryana Police have not been able to nab the prime accused who allegedly sabotaged his entry into Rio Olympics.
The 27-year-old wrestler had tested positive for an anabolic steroid after which his road to Rio got blocked. Claiming that he had been a victim of conspiracy, he had lodged a complaint at Rai police station in Sonepat in the wee hours of July 26, a day before National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) was to hear his case.
In the complaint, Narsingh blamed a fellow junior wrestler Jitesh Pehelwan, who practised at his alleged rival Sushil Kumar’s father-in-law Satpal Singh’s ‘akhada’ at Chhatrasal stadium in Delhi, for spiking his food with unknown substances at Sport Authority Institute (SAI) centre in Sonepat.
Based on his complaint, Sonepat superintendent of police (SP) HS Doon registered an FIR against Jitesh under Sections 328 (causing hurt by means of poisoning) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC on July 27. However, Jitesh has been on the run ever since and the police has failed to arrest him. He had moved an application for interim bail which was quashed by a local court.
Sonepat police CIA inspector and investigation officer Indivar said the police had conducted raids at Jitesh’s house thrice, but to no avail. “He is still on the run. Several of our teams are out to nab him. We’re sure of arresting him soon,” he said. The police said it was collecting detailed reports of Narsingh’s dope test from NADA and Rohtak’s PGIMS.
“A site-inspection has been conducted at the SAI centre where the incident allegedly happened. We have recorded statements of the witnesses, including Narsingh’s friend Chandan Yadav,” Indivar said.
The wrestler in his complaint claimed to have seen Jitesh on June 5 hovering around the mess kitchen of the SAI centre, where his friend Chandan was preparing food for him. Though the mess kitchen at the centre is fully under CCTV surveillance, it was of no help in Narsingh’s case as the centre said it stored footage only for last 10 days.
“We regularly monitor our CCTV footage and delete visuals older than 10 days to make space for storage. Since the CCTV footage of the date of the alleged incident was deleted, it can be safely said that our administration had checked it carefully and found nothing objecttinable,” Sonepat SAI centre’s director Radhica Sreeman said.
Sreeman said that neither she nor any member of the administration was approached by Narsingh to complain about any suspicious person before his dope test was found positive.
With political parties mounting pressure for a CBI probe in the case, truth may take a long time to come out.
The police have conducted raids at Jitesh’s house thrice, but to no avail. He is still on the run. Several of our teams are out to arrest him. We’re sure of nabbing him soon. INDIVAR, investigation officer