Indian couple ‘closed’ stadium to walk dog

INDIA’S ministry of home affairs has sent a bureaucrat couple to opposite ends of the country after a public outcry over reports that they forced a sports stadium in New Delhi to shut early so they could walk their dog.

The couple, Sanjeev Khirwar, a senior bureaucrat in the New Delhi government, and his wife Rinku Dugga, also a civil servant, are accused of misuse of power after making athletes at a government-run stadium to wind up practice sessions early so that they could walk their Great Dane, it is alleged.

Sportsmen training at the facility, built for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, reported that for the past few months, a guard would blow a whistle to clear the arena at 6.30pm. The couple would arrive with their dog to walk around the tracks, enjoying the stadium to themselves.

The athletes said that the enforced earlier finish meant they had to train for longer during the day under the scorching sun instead.

The couple denied the claims but have now been transferred to regions around 2,000 miles apart, separated by the Himalayan mountain range, in apparent “punishment postings”.

Mr Khirwar was sent to Ladakh while Ms Dugga was relocated to Arunachal Pradesh in the north east.