Wrestler Bajrang Punia was suspended for four years on Tuesday by the National Anti-Doping Agency for allegedly refusing to provide a sample for a dope test on March 10, PTI reported.

The agency is an autonomous body under the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

Punia, who joined the Congress in September, called the suspension a “political conspiracy”, ANI reported.

He claimed that the action was taken due to his involvement in the protests against former Wrestling Federation of India chief and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for alleged sexual assault.

The National Anti-Doping Agency had initially suspended the Olympic bronze medallist in April for his refusal to submit his samples on March 10 during the trials to select the Indian team for the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Bishkek.

Subsequently, the international governing body for the sport, the United World Wrestling, also suspended him, PTI reported.

However, Punia challenged his provisional suspension, claiming that he never refused to provide his samples. He also questioned why the National Anti-Doping Agency had sent expired kits for sample collection in December 2023.

On May 31, the agency’s Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel lifted its suspension pending the issuance of a charge notice. Following this, the National Anti-Doping Agency served the notice to the wrestler on June 23.

On July 11, Punia challenged the charge in a written submission, after which hearings were conducted on September 20 and October 4.

The Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel on Tuesday held Punia liable for action under Article 10.3.1 of the National Anti-Doping Rules. The provision pertains to cases involving the failure to submit samples.

“In the present case, since the athlete had been provisionally suspended, the panel accordingly holds that the athlete’s period of his ineligibility for the period of 4 years shall commence from the date on which the notification was sent, i.e., 23.04.2024,” the order said.

The four-year suspension will prevent Punia from returning to competitive wrestling or applying for a coaching job abroad.

In his written submission against his provisional suspension, Punia had said that the conduct of National Anti-Doping Agency had created mistrust in the athlete’s mind, PTI reported.

The wrestler also said that he “was always willing to provide his sample provided that he first received a response from NADA [National Anti-Doping Agency] concerning the use of expired kits”.

However, the agency said that the “the outright refusal by the athlete to provide urine sample for the dope test was intentional and deliberate”.

Following his suspension on Tuesday, Punia claimed that the National Anti-Doping Agency took the action as he stood with the women wrestlers in their protest against Singh. “It is straightforward that the government is involved in this,” he added.

Punia was among several other wrestlers, including Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat, who were at the forefront of the protests against Singh since January 2023 after he was accused of sexually abusing athletes.

In September, Phogat and Punia joined the Congress ahead of polling for the Haryana Assembly elections. Both wrestlers are Haryana natives.

Responding to Punia’s suspension on Tuesday, Haryana Sports Minister Gaurav Gautam said that the agency works as per its rules and “does not act by identifying one specific individual,” ANI reported.

He added: “What direction did the protest [against Singh] head to... How he dragged sports into politics, everyone saw that.”

The minister added that the Congress attempted to politically weaponise the protests against Singh. “I think there should be no politics in sports,” Gautam said. “It affects both society as well as sportspersons.”