The Sports Ministry has directed the National Anti-Doping Agency or NADA to conduct a drug test on star boxer Vijender Singh. Just after few hours, the anti-doping agency has insisted that it will follow its own protocol. The star boxer and Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh was accused by the Punjab Police yesterday of purchasing and using heroin on 12 occasions in the last few months.
NADA officials have declared that they are an autonomous body and will not listen to anyone. However they will consider the ministry’s request. The anti-doping agency will do a sample test called as substance test on Vijender. NADA disclosed that they cannot test the boxer for heroin since it is not present in prohibited list for out of competition athletes.
The ministry has depicted the charges against the Olympian medallist as "disturbing and debilitating" and hence stressed it is considered necessary that NADA should carry on the test on Vijender for his reported use of heroin even out-of-competition.
NADA officials have assured earlier that Vijender is not going to be penalised as he used the drug while out-of-competition.
NADA director-general Mukul Chatterjee proclaimed that heroin is a banned drug, but an athlete can be punished only if he tests positive in 'in-competition' testing. Vijender cannot be penalised since he is not in training for any competition these days.
The Punjab Police revealed that investigations indicated that Vijender and his boxing partner Ram Singh acquired the drug between December and February from an alleged Canada-based dealer Anoop Singh Kahlon. They have stated on Sunday that the boxer has consumed the drug about 12 times and Ram Singh about five times. However they did not specify how they had reached this conclusion. The two boxers did not deal with the smugglers actively in their activities and nothing was recovered from them hence they were not arrested at this stage. The Police highlighted that Vijender being himself as a police officer, did not provide hair and blood samples for testing last month.
On the other hand, the 27-year-old Vijender who became famous in India after winning the Olympic bronze medal has strongly shunned any connection with the drug dealer and has criticized the charges against him as "ridiculous". He was also not seen in public for the past few weeks and has not protested against the police allegations.
Police had hauled 26 kgs of heroin with a market value of Rs 130 crores in March in Punjab. The charged dealer was arrested along with others. A car belonging to the wife of Vijender was parked outside the residence of the charged dealer near Chandigarh. This incident led to the conclusion that the high profile sportstar was linked to the haul.
In recent years, there have been numerous major drug seizures in Punjab. A Punjab university study in 2011 reported that up to 70% of the state’s youth are addicted to drugs or alcohol.
