Over the past week, following his positive dope test, Narsingh Yadav had claimed that he had been the victim of sabotage and that his food had been tampered with. When he filed an FIR at the Rai police station, a junior wrestler from the akhara at New Delhi's Chhatrasal stadium Jitesh was named as the suspect. Chhatrasal is the akhara where double Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar trains and which is run by his father-in-law Satpal Singh, himself a legendary wrestler of the 80s. Chhatrasal is synonymous with the two. The suspect named took on additional significance in the context of the bitter legal battle that had been fought between Sushil Kumar on one side and Narsingh and the Wrestling Federation of India on the other over who should represent the country in the 74kg category at the Rio Olympics. Narsingh had won the quota place while Sushil wanted a trial. The courts had sided with Narsingh on the matter. And while the FIR doesn’t name Sushil or his father-in-law it’s obvious to all but the most obtuse that that’s where the accusatory fingers were being pointed. When the WFI backed Narsingh's theory, it was apparent that they too bought into all the consequences of believing that theory. Brij Bhushan Sharan had stated last Monday that “a wrestler, a coach and a SAI administrator were suspected.” It had seemed that the battle lines had been clearly drawn.Following the exoneration of Narsingh by the NADA (National Anti Doping Agency) disciplinary committee hearing on Monday, it had appeared that the conspiracy theory of sabotage may have had some merit after all. WATCH: Narsingh gets clean chit. What next? The Wrestling Federation however seemed to be taking a more concilatory view. WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh was asked at a post hearing press conference what was the WFI 's future course of action following the confirmation of the sabotage theory. Sharan refused to take names. “It could be a third person involved as well,” he said. “Right now priority is that Narsingh go to Rio,” he added.The view from the camp of Sushil Kumar was similarly placatory. Sushil welcomed the NADA decision to exonerate Yadav from charges of doping, which would enable him to represent the country at the Olympic Games. “Bahot Khushi ki baat hain. Mera support pahle bhi thaa, aaj bhi hain aur kal bhi rahega. (It's a great news. My support was there earlier also, even today and will remain tomorrow). Go win for me and the country," the legendary Olympian tweetet. But it wasn't always like this. When it first came to light that Narsingh had tested positive for the banned steroid metadienone, Sushil had tweeted 'Respect is to be earned not demanded.' That message was criticised by a number of twitter users as particularly gloating in nature. Following this, Sushil released another message where he lamented that wrestling in the past few months went through this tumultous phase. "very unfortunate 2 see the Wrestling go through this. I hv given my life to ot (sic) & wl always support fellow wrestlers," Sushil stated in the micro-blogging site. Sushil's father-in-law Satpal Singh, had also been vocal over the course of the past week regarding the entire doping saga. “Narsingh has brought shame on India and wrestling,” he had said. Once the rumours of the involvement of a senior wrestler began swirling he had demanded proof for the accusations. “Do a narco test on Narsingh and the truth will come out,” he had thundered at a TV camera. On Monday though he seemed to have a change of heart and came out with a message of support for Yadav. “My blessings are with him. Hopefully he will return with a medal from Rio,” he told The Indian Express.
