Para-swimmer Prasanta Karmakar has been suspended by the Paralympic Committee of India for three years over charges of recording videos of female swimmers during the National Swimming Championships in Jaipur, The Indian Express reported.
Incidentally, the 2010 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist was the coach of India’s swimming squad at the 2016 Rio Paralympic games.
“The incident was reported last year in March during the 17th Nationals Para Athletics (Jaipur),” Dr VK Dabas, Chairman of Sports Technical Committee, PCI was quoted as saying.
The decision was taken after several complaints were made against Karmakar. A disciplinary committee was formed and found him guilty. The Arjuna Awardee still has the right to appeal, Dabas added.
Karmakar, though, has refuted the allegations.
“It is a conspiracy against me...The incident at Jaipur was manipulated against me. I teach 6 to 7 swimmers and they reside in my training school,” Karmakar was quoted as saying.
“There are several awardees who have claimed medals on the basis of fake certificates and I wanted that list to be published and expose the fraud,” he added.
The 37-year-old said that a father of one of the swimmers had shot the video, adding that the complaint against him was baseless. He stated that even
However, this isn’t the first instance that complaints have been raised against Karmakar. Various athletes had also accused him of similar offence earlier, J Chandrashekar, Secretary-General, PCI stated.
Karmakar is one of India’s most decorated para-swimmers. Other than the success in the Commonwealth Games, he has also won a medal at the 2003 World Swimming Championships.