“Duniye matlab di, zamana paise da. (The world is selfish and runs after money)“
Ram Singh recalls one of the many lessons he learnt from his days of struggle in the last seven years. Ever since his name cropped up in the multi-crore drug racket involving NRI Anoop Singh Khaloon and Arjuna award winner wrestler Jagdish Bhola.
For the last six years, Ram has waited for the day when he would be given a clean chit in the case. It finally came on Wednesday, when he was acquitted of all charges by the CBI court in Mohali.
“It’s a new birth for me. I was confident that I would come out clean of this,” Ram Singh told Scroll.in. “Life kharab hone se bach gayi (My life won’t go a waste now).”
The 37-year-old arrested in March 2013 in relation to a drug-racket related to NRI Anoop Singh Khaloon and Arjuna award winner wrestler Jagdish Bhola. Though he got bail a month later, the two months he spent in jail had the worst effect on the boxer.
Beijing Olympics bronze-medallist Vijender Singh was given a clean chit in the same case but for Ram, who was his sparring and room partner, what followed was a year of police torture and court visits that ended to his boxing career.
“The only people who backed be were my parents. I survived that phase because of them,” he says. “Now, my trainees and my daughter are everything to me and I want to dedicate my life to them. I will continue boxing.”
The Punjab boxer had joined the national camp in 2002 after winning the gold medal in the junior nationals. In his career before 2013, he won seven consecutive gold medals for Punjab Police in Police Games. He was successful internationally as well winning gold medals in invitational tournaments.
The heavyweight was a regular at the national camp and close friends with Vijender, Olympian Jai Bhagwan and Dinesh Kumar. But everything fell apart after the two months he spent in jail.
“I dedicated 15 years of my life to boxing and it all ended in 15 minutes. I was like a machine and after that case everything stopped,” he recalls.
“My biggest fear was how will I face the people I have known. Nobody would believe me. Vijender was like brother to me and I am sorry that I took his name under pressure. He did nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong.”
He lost considerable amount of weight because of insufficient diet in jail but once out he gain weight because of a thyroid issue and depression. With no financial security (he lost his job as head constable in Punjab Police after being named in the case), Ram found it difficult to make ends meet.
“Nobody would pick my calls. Duniye matlab di, zamana paise da. I was restless and depressed for a year... I had to sell my car, do daily wage jobs but I wanted to come out of this,” he says.
That is when he was asked to coach at Public College in Samana. Ram had no second thoughts while taking up the coaching role.
“I have trained around 400 boxers here. Himanshu Sharma won Punjab’s only medal (silver) at the nationals last year. World bronze medallist Simranjeet Kaur was my trainee for two years,” he says.
Ram is now hoping to get his Punjab Police job back. “I am not guilty and I will get my job. I can never forget the six years of my life. I try to move on but whenever I close my eyes, I remember those days.”
Apart from being a coach at Public College, Ram also competed professionally. He was part of the Super Boxing League in 2016 and even captained the Mumbai team. His last bout was in November last year but he hopes to continue in future.
“This training centre in Samana will continue and I will compete,” he says. “I will also try to get my coaching diploma.”
But for now, Ram is relieved that the hardships are over. Once the judgement was announced, he went to his village Bir Naina Akota near Patiala with his wife and daughter.
“My village is celebrating because they know I was not guilty. Everyone leaves you in bad time, your family doesn’t,” he says.
