Sports Ministry asks anti-doping agency to conduct tests on Vijender Singh for alleged drug use

New Delhi/Chandigarh: The Sports Ministry has asked the National Anti-Doping Agency or NADA to conduct a drug test on star boxer Vijender Singh, who has been accused by the Punjab Police of buying and using heroin on 12 occasions in the last few months.

The ministry described the allegations against the boxer as "disturbing and debilitating" and said, "it has, therefore, been considered necessary that NADA gets a test carried out on Vijender for his reported use of heroin even out-of-competition."

Vijender, who has been questioned in the case last month, has so far refused to give the police hair and blood samples for the test. A short while before the ministry intervened today, Indian boxing coach GS Sandhu suggested that the Olympic bronze medal winner cooperate with the police and give them the samples they want, PTI reported.

This morning, Vijender's father strongly denied that his 27-year-old champion son had used drugs. "My son is not into drugs and he is innocent. The 2012 Olympics wasn't too long ago and he did well in it. He wouldn't have if he was into drugs," Mahipal Singh Beniwal told NDTV. The boxer had won his Olympic bronze in 2008; in the London Olympics last year, he was knocked out in the quarter finals.

The police have said Vijender's sparring partner Ram Singh first bought heroin in December last year from alleged drug dealer Anoop Singh Kahlon. Both boxers, they said, then went together to Kahlon's house near Chandigarh to buy drugs a number of times in January and February this year. The police have reportedly based their estimate that Vijinder consumed heroin 12 times on the interrogation of Ram Singh and call records.

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Phone records have also allegedly shown that Vijender and Kahlon knew each other well and had even exchanged SMS-es a number of time. Sources said the records showed that the boxer had been in touch with Kahlon since August last year and that the two had spoken to each other on phone about 80 times since. Vijender has, however, denied anything more than a casual acquaintance with Kahlon.

Vijender's name had cropped up in the drug haul case after a car registered in the name of his wife was found parked at the alleged dealer's home on March 7, when more than 26 kilograms of drugs, including heroin, worth Rs. 130 crore, was recovered.

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