Badminton star Lakshya Sen booked on accusation of fudging age

The FIR, registered Thursday, came after a local court recently directed police to investigate the allegation against Sen, 21.

Besides Sen and his coach Vimal Kumar, police have named the player’s father, Dhirendra Sen, brother Chirag Sen, and mother Nirmala Sen in the FIR.

Sen, who hails from Uttarakhand, trains at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru. His father is a coach with the Sports Authority of India. Chirag Sen, too, is also a badminton player.

The complaint was filed by Nagaraja MG, who also runs a badminton academy in Bengaluru.

Nagaraja claimed that Kumar, who coaches at the Padukone Academy, colluded with Sen’s parents to forge a birth certificate in 2010 to allow him to participate in age-restricted tournaments.

Sen now competes in the senior category.

Reached for comment, coach Kumar said: “I don’t even know the allegations made by the complainant. I have no role in this whatsoever. Lakshya came to the academy and I trained him from 2010, just like any other child.”

Asked if he was aware of the complaint, he said: “I had heard that a parent was levelling allegations to malign the image of the academy and me. But it did not bother us in any way.”

Dhirendra Sen did not respond to calls for comment.

Sen, according to records, was born in 2001. Nagaraja claimed he was born in 1998.

The police case has been registered under IPC Sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged record).

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) R Srinivas Gowda said: “An FIR has been registered based on the court directions. We will collect all the documents from the complainant and will inquire further. It is too early to comment.”