Para swimmer Karmakar suspended for 3 years on sexual harassment charges

Veteran para swimmer Prasanta Karmakar was on Thursday slapped with a three-year suspension by the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) for alleged harassing of female swimmers during the National Para Swimming Championship in Jaipur last year.

According to the PCI, the Arjuna Award winner was making video records of female swimmers during the event which was held from March 31 to April 3.

Karmakar also allegedly got into an argument with PCI officials who confronted him over the incident.

Several persons had also made sent written complaints against Karmakar, who was also the coach of the Indian swimming squad at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

"Around seven or eight persons had complained against him. We have received repeated complaints against him," the PCI's Sports Technical Committee chairman V.K. Dabas told IANS.

"A disciplinary committee had probed the charges against Karmakar and found him guilty," he added.

One of the stars of Indian para sports, Karmakar has bagged more than a dozen medals at the international level over the course of an illustrious career.

The 37-year-old was the national champion for 16 consecutive years. He had clinched a medal at the World Swimming Championships in 2003 -- the first Indian to achieve that feat.

--IANS

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