It’s a conspiracy against me, says Para-swimmer suspended for recording videos of female swimmers

Prasanta Karmakar has been suspended on charges of recording videos of female swimmers at the National Swimming Championships in Jaipur last year.

Prasanta Karmakar, P. Karmakar, Para swimmer, Paralympic Games, Paralympic swimming, India, Paralympic Committee of India, Swimming, indian express

Prasanta Karmakar has been banned for three years. (Source: Facebook)

Para-swimmer Prasanta Karmakar was suspended on Thursday for three years by the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI). The 2010 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist faces the action over charges of recording videos of female swimmers at the National Swimming Championships in Jaipur last year. Karmakar was also the coach of the swimming squad that represented India at the 2016 Rio Paralympic games.

Confirming the development, Dr V K Dabas, Chairman of Sports Technical Committee, PCI, in a chat with IndianExpress.com, said, “The incident was reported last year in March during the 17th Nationals Para Athletics (Jaipur). Several complaints were made against Karmakar, following which a disciplinary committee was formed. The committee found Karmakar guilty and thereby handed him a suspension of three years. He has the right to appeal against it.”

Denying the charges, Karmakar accused the PCI of a “pre-planned conspiracy” against him as he wanted to “expose certain illegalities in the committee”. “Two hundred per cent, it is a conspiracy against me. There are several awardees who have claimed medals on the basis of fake certificates and I wanted that list to be published and expose the fraud,” he said.

“The incident at Jaipur was manipulated against me. I teach 6 to 7 swimmers and they reside in my training school. The father of one of the girls was recording a video of our swimmers. The PCI manipulated the entire situation and made it an issue against me. A baseless complaint was lodged against me at the police station but no FIR was filed. I will get to the bottom of this matter,” said Karmakar.

Meanwhile, J Chandrashekar, Secretary-General, Paralympic Committee of India, said this was not the first instance of complaint against the Arjuna Award winner. “Various athletes (men and women) had accused Karmakar of a similar offence earlier. Hence, we wanted a thorough probe of the charges. The disciplinary committee was immediately formed after the National Championships and the verdict was given out in January 2018.”

Karmakar is one of the most accomplished sportspersons in India and has had an illustrious career with several accolades and medals in his kitty. He was the first disabled swimmer to represent India and win a medal at the World Swimming Championships in 2003 and has bagged more than a dozen medals throughout his career. He was also the National champion for a period of 16 consecutive years.