Written by: Vinayak Padmadeo
3 min readNew DelhiAug 24, 2013 03:46 AM IST
First published on: Aug 24, 2013 at 03:46 AM IST
One of the coaches associated with Indias womens wrestling team is facing eviction from the Sports Authority of Indias Sonepat centre after brandishing a revolver
Kripa Shankar,an Arjuna awardee,has been served the eviction notice by regional director Radhica Sreeman for disciplinary reasons.
The flare up,as per the complaint filed by Sreeman after conducting an inquiry,happened on August 11 when Avneesh Kumar,a member of the groundstaff,had gone to the mess area to get breakfast for LS Ranawat regional director,NIS Patiala who was staying overnight at the guesthouse.
Shankar had in the past been evicted from the Patiala premises by Ranawat for another flare-up with the staff. The authorities say the latest incident was a direct result of that episode.
Shankar and Kumar had a verbal spat at the mess and then again outside the guest house where Ranawat was staying. It was here that Shankar allegedly brandished the revolver.
Following this,Shankar was asked to leave the premises on a couple of occasions SAI officials even tried to force him out but he has refused saying that he has been enrolled as a coach by the Wrestling Federation of India WFI.
Fresh inquiry
Now,the WFI has constituted a three-member panel headed by its treasurer Prem Nath to look into the matter after SAI director general Jiji Thomson sought WFIs help in the matter.
She Sreeman has issued the eviction order,a copy of which has been forwarded to the government also. We have been in touch with the WFI and its president has assured us that he will sort out the issue. If they dont act in a day or two then we will have to take severe action, Thomson said.
Sources close to Shankar claim that SAI officials want to punish him for raising the issue of female wrestlers not getting allowance for supplements. He sees this as a direct fallout after he questioned officials why a mandatory Rs 250 daily allowance for supplements hasnt been provided to female wrestlers. Besides how can he threaten someone with a revolver,he doesnt have the license to carry one, a source said.
WFI secretary general Raj Singh,though,said it was early to say anything. I dont want to get into the debate whether or not he did have a revolver. Let the committee submit the report to us first and then we will act accordingly.
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