Diagnosed with chicken pox, East Bengal defender plays I-League match

Diagnosed with chicken pox, East Bengal's Mehtab Singh, instead of being quarantined by the club, played in an I-League match recently.

Needless to say, his participation in the match put his opponents, teammates of the Kolkata-based club and, above all, child mascots at risk of contracting the highly contagious disease.

When contacted, an East Bengal official said the player was diagnosed with the medical condition only after he returned to Kolkata a day after the game.

The match against Punjab FC, held at Ludhiana's Guru Nanak Stadium on December 7, ended in a 1-1 stalemate with Mehtab featuring in it.

Punjab FC owner Ranjit Bajaj on Thursday slammed the player and his club for what he termed a "stupid and highly irresponsible" act.

"This is so stupid and highly irresponsible. He has put at risk not just my players and his teammates but even our six-seven-year-old accompanying the players entering the pitch before the match. Just imagine," Bajaj told PTI.

"That is not brave, this is simply stupid.

"Ever since he boarded the plane or train from Kolkata, he must have put the players at risk of contracting this highly contagious disease."