Narsingh dope case: Haryana cops chasing CCTV footage that ‘does not exist’

Mangalore Today News Network

Rohtak, Sep 17, 2016: The dope case against wrestler Narsingh Yadav, which crushed his dream to participate in Rio Olympics, was referred to the CBI by Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Friday. Back in Haryana’s Sonepat district, where the police lodged a case on the grappler’s complaint, probe seems to be hanging in balance even after over 45 days, as the police maintain they have nothing substantial to share.

The 27-year-old wrestler, who had tested positive for an anabolic steroid, had filed a complaint against fellow wrestler Jitesh Kumar of Delhi for allegedly adding banned substances in his food and drinks during his stay at Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Sonepat. Jitesh used to train at an akhada at Chattrasal Stadium in Delhi, which belonged to Narsingh’s arch rival Sushil Kumar’s father-in-law.

After being on the run for over a month, Jitesh joined the investigation with the Haryana Police on September 10, but he denied having committed the crime.

The police, too, did not arrest him, despite seeking a cancellation of his interim bail plea earlier from the court. “We didn’t get any other proof against him of committing the act. Since he has joined the investigation and is cooperating with us, there’s no need to make arrest right now,” investigating officer (IO) inspector Indivir Singh said.

The police maintained they had still got some reports pending in the case that could reveal the course of details of the complaint filed by Narsingh.

“The main report we’re awaiting is the CCTV footage of the date and time of the alleged incident. The DVR (digital video recorder) of the footage has been sent to the state forensic lab in Panchkula and we’re awaiting the reports,” Singh said.

However, SAI Sonepat director Radhica Sreeman had told HT that CCTV footage older than 10 days is automatically deleted from the storage system after being monitored by SAI officials.

In Narsingh’s case, the wrestler lodged a complaint referring to a sabotage incident that allegedly happened one-and-a-half months earlier.

“Since the footage got deleted, it can be safely said that our administration had checked it carefully and found nothing objectionable,” she had said. When contacted, IO Indivir Singh said, “Our technicians will decide if the footage got deleted or not.”