The Prime Minister Office (PMO) has referred Indian wrestler Narsingh Yadav’s doping case to the Crime Branch of Investigation (CBI), Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) said today.
“I had been to the Prime Minster Office (PMO) on August 28 requesting for a CBI enquiry into the incident. Since people must know the truth behind the issue, we said the CBI should conduct an enquiry into the incident. I am glad that the PMO has referred the matter to CBI for an enquiry,” Brijbhushan Sharan was quoted by Times of India as saying.
After being given a clean chit by the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA), Narsingh was barred from taking part in the Rio Olympics -- barely 12 hours before his bout was scheduled -- by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) referred the matter to it.
Brijbhushan demanded a CBI probe on August 21 into the "alleged conspiracy" against Narsingh, which led to a four-year ban on the grappler by CAS.
Narsingh had tested positive for a banned substance ahead of the Rio Olympics on June 25. But he was cleared on August 1 by NADA which allowed him to travel to Rio.
NADA postponed its verdict twice in July and later gave him a clean chit, saying he "was a victim of sabotage done by a competitor".
WFI also communicated to the world's apex wrestling body, the United World Wrestling (UWW) on August 1 that NADA has cleared Narsingh of all the charges and the 26-year-old would be re-included in the team for the category.
UWW gave the green light to Narsingh for participation on August 3.
But on August 16, WADA exercised its right to appeal to CAS against NADA's verdict.
The Mumbai grappler was scheduled to start his Olympic campaign against Zelimkhan Khadjiev of France in the qualification round of the men's 74 kilogram Freestyle category on August 19, a day after his CAS hearing.
The 26-year-old grappler underwent his weigh-in on August 18, the same day when the hearing of his case was scheduled to happen.
But hours later, CAS upheld WADA's appeal against the clean chit given to him and ended all his hopes of participating in the quadrennial event.
The ad-hoc division of CAS heard WADA's appeal against Narsingh's clearance and slapped a four-year ban on the Uttar Pradesh-born grappler.
Narsingh earlier overcame protracted legal hurdles to participate in Rio after getting dragged into a bitter courtroom tussle by two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar over representing the country.
(With IANS inputs)
