The Delhi High Court on Monday pulled up the Central Bureau of Investigation for the delay in wrestler Narsingh Yadav’s 2016 complaint.
Yadav had alleged that his food was spiked, leading to a ban on him for four years after testing positive for a banned substance. The court had also directed a Deputy Inspector General of Police officer to look into the matter and submit a report, PTI reported.
Justice Najmi Waziri said the sportsperson had lodged the complaint after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the World Anti-Doping Agency’s decision not to give a clean chit to him in the doping violation case, and asked the CBI why it has not taken any action for the past two-and-a-half years.
The court issued a notice to the CBI and asked it to file its response regarding the status of the investigation, and how it has pursued the matter. February 1 is the next date of hearing.
Prior to CAS’ decision, the National Anti-Doping Agency had cleared him for the 2016 Rio Olympics. He was going to represent India in the men’s freestyle 74kg category. The court, during the hearing, asked the CBI what it had been doing since he made the complaint.
“Why no action till now? What have you been doing for the past two-and-a-half years? This is the CBI, not some other agency,” the court said and added that the agency should look at it from the point of view of the sportsperson.
“It would not only be a personal loss, it would be a loss to sports and a loss to bring glory to India. Sportspersons have a short shelf life. Also, imagine the ignominy of it,” the judge said.
The CBI, represented by central government counsel Ripudaman Singh Bhardwaj, told the court that the agency had to question members of the CAS panel who had taken the final decision to slap the four-year ban on Yadav.
Bhardwaj said that members of the CAS panel and the scientists involved in the decision making process were foreign nationals and that the agency was sending requests through diplomatic channels for permission to question them.
The court responded with how it wanted to know how the agency has pursued the matter. The court also asked the CBI to show when they had sent the requests and to whom. “I want to see how you have pursued the matter, will have to see the conduct of your officers,” the judge said during the hearing.
“A DIG rank officer shall look into the matter and inform the court within 10 days,” the court said.
Yadav has moved the court for speedy disposal of his complaint, saying that it has been pending before the agency since 2016. The 29-year-old has claimed that he had made several representations to the agency to complete the investigation, but with little luck.
