The Delhi High Court on Monday questioned the CBI for not completing its investigation into wrestler Narsingh Yadav’s 2016 complaint alleging that his food was spiked leading to a ban on him for four years from the sport on charge of doping.
Justice Najmi Waziri directed a DIG-rank officer to look into the matter. The judge asked the CBI to file its response regarding the status of the investigation and how it has pursued the matter by the next date of hearing on February 1.
The High Court said the sportsperson had lodged the complaint after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) decision not to give a clean chit to him in the doping violation case.
The High Court said that the agency should look at it from the point of view of the sportsperson who has a “short shelf-life”, especially in contact sports like wrestling and boxing.
Prior to the CAS decision, the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) had cleared him for the 2016 Rio Olympics. He was going to represent India in the men’s freestyle 74-kg category.
Question CAS members
The CBI 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 Mr. Yadav.
It said that members of the CAS panel and the scientists involved in the decision-making process were foreign nationals and the agency was sending requests through diplomatic channels for permission to question them.
Mr. Yadav has moved the court for speedy disposal of his complaint, saying that it has been pending before the agency since 2016. He has claimed that he had made several representations to the agency to complete the probe, but nothing has happened till date.
