‘Sports dept was not conducting basketball training at accident site’: Haryana sports officials distance from tragedy

In separate incidents, two young players lost their lives after iron poles holding hoops collapsed. Sixteen-year-old Hardik Rathee, who had represented Haryana at the national sub-junior basketball championship, died in Lakhan Majra village of Rohtak district on November 25. A day earlier, fifteen-year-old Aman succumbed to injuries sustained in Bahadurgarh while undergoing treatment at PGIMS Rohtak.

On November 26, the state government suspended Rohtak District Sports Officer Anoop Singh, an athletics coach, and attached him to the department’s head office in Panchkula during the suspension period. In his report submitted the same day, Singh maintained that the basketball court where the accident occurred was under the jurisdiction of the block samiti of Lakhan Majra, not the sports department. He further noted that no basketball nursery had been sanctioned for the village and no coach appointed. Singh added that coaching was being provided informally by a local youth club member, Mohit. He also emphasised that he had been holding additional charge of Rohtak district sports officer for the past only three months.

Supporting his account, Khatri sent a report to the Director General of the department on November 26, corroborating Singh’s statements.

Jhajjar District Sports Officer Satyender Kumar also submitted his report regarding Aman’s death, asserting that the department had no involvement with the basketball court at the Shaheed Brigadier Hoshiar Singh Stadium in Bahadurgarh. He explained that no basketball nursery was being run there and that the department had only constructed a wrestling hall at the stadium, which is managed by wrestling coach Sanjay Kumar.

However, Suresh Kumar, father of the deceased Aman, lodged a police complaint on Monday against sports department officials, holding them accountable. “My son died after a basketball pole collapsed on his stomach during practice. In 2022, another player, Sangam, was seriously injured when an adjoining pole fell. Even after that, the poles were neither inspected nor repaired. This sheer negligence by the stadium management cost my son his life. Action against the officials would not only bring justice to my son but also ensure such negligence does not claim another life,” Kumar said.

Beyond suspending Singh on November 26, the state government on November 30 carried out a reshuffle in the department. Vijay Singh Dahiya, a 2001-batch IAS officer, was appointed commissioner of sports, replacing 1994-batch IPS officer Navdeep Singh Virk. In another change, Parth Gupta, a 2013-batch IAS officer, was named director of sports, succeeding 2004-batch IAS officer Sanjeev Verma.