Journalism of Courage
Nearly a month after Olympian Vijender Singhs name cropped up in a drug haul case,one of his friends and fellow boxer,has claimed that the Punjab Police were trying to frame the pugilist in the case.
Dinesh Kumar,an Asian Games silver medallist,claimed the police planted Vijenders wifes car outside the flat of NRI drug dealer Anoop Singh Kahlon in Zirakpur from where heroin worth Rs 130 crore was recovered last month. Vijender was further implicated when his sparring partner Ram Singh and Kahlon,took his name as a consumer.
Dinesh said the police at Fatehgarh Sahib planted the car outside the flat after forcing him,Ram Singh and another fellow boxer,Bunty,to leave the car at the police station. Ram was with me at NIS,Patiala,when he received a call from Fatehgarh Sahib police saying he was required for questioning. Myself and Bunty accompanied him in the car,which the police claim was found outside the flat. When we reached the police station,the police told us that Ram would have to be questioned, Dinesh told PTI.
The policemen insisted we leave the car at the station. We told them that the car was not ours… but they forced us to leave it, he said. Dinesh said they then returned to Patiala. Later,the vehicle was found in Zirakpur. We were stunned because the car was in police custody when we left. How it reached Zirakpur is a mystery.
However,the police rubbished Dineshs claims. Vijender is creating a defence for himself by cooking up such stories and asking friends to release them to the media. We are a responsible police force and whatever we have said about Vijender till now is based on facts and corroborative evidence, said SSP Fatehgarh Sahib,Hardayal Singh Mann.
(WITH PTI)
Ministry looks for ways to get heroin test done
New Delhi: The Sports Ministry is now exploring ways to subject the boxer Vijender Singh to a heroin test,a day after the National Anti-Doping Agency refused it. An official said they were keen to get a heroin test done on Vijender as the government spends a lot on these boxers. It is only fair that we should know the truth, he said. PTI
