The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
‘Media never came when my brother won medals for nation’
Families claim sons innocent, say the ‘real culprits’ should be arrested
A DAY after an internationallevel athlete, along with two others, was arrested for peddling drugs, his family members claimed he was “trapped by the members of a drug trafficking syndicate”, and that police should catch the “real culprits who have been luring innocent men into the trade”.
Police said the athlete, Harpreet Singh (30), and his associates — Amandeep Singh (29) and Hanish Sarpal (36) — were allegedly involved in an international drug racket and were supplying drugs from Mumbai to Delhi and Punjab.
Police claim to have recovered 25 kg of ‘mephadrone’ — also known as meow meow — from their possession.
A relative, who did not wish to be named, said Harpreet wanted to play for the country but never received any help from the government.
“Harpreet was a nationallevel school champion in discus throw for two years. He used to practise in a village near Palam and won his first medal in school. Since then, he has participated in hundreds of events in India as well as abroad, and has won more than 70 medals. At the state level, he has won over 100 medals,” the relative said.
Harpreet’s elder brother, Gurdarshan Singh, is a nationallevel hockey player, while his father, Baljit Singh, is a districtlevel cricketer.
“I am very upset with the media... They never came to us when my brother won medals for the nation. But now everybody is coming to us,” said Gurdarshan Singh, who now runs a furniture shop.
Another relative said Harpreet had been trapped by “some people” into the drug racket.
“He is innocent... He dreamt of becoming the number one player in discus throw... Police should catch the real culprits who are luring such men into the racket,” he said.
Harpeet had won a bronze medal for India in 2006 SAF Games held in Colombo. He was also the All India Inter University Champion from 2006 to 2008, police sources said. He won silver in the Youth Commonwealth Games in Australia in 2004.
But he soon fell off the map after failing a dope test for the anabolic steroid Stanozolol in 2012, after which sanctions were imposed against him.
Harpreet’s family used to live in Uttar Pradesh but later shifted to west Delhi.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Sanjeev Yadav said, “While preparing for the Delhi Commonwealth Games, Harpreet suffered a foot injury and left the sport. He started a property business in 2012 but suffered losses after which he got involved in drug trafficking.”
Meanwhile, Amandeep’s family — who also lives in west Delhi — claimed their son was innocent.