HC raps CBI for delay in probe into Narsingh Yadav's complaint over doping scandal

The Delhi High Court on Monday pulled up the CBI for not completing its probe 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, and directed a DIG rank officer to look into the matter and submit a report.

Justice Najmi Waziri 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 and asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) why it has not taken any action for the past two-and-a-half years.

The court issued a notice to the CBI and asked it to file its response regarding status of the investigation and how it has pursued the matter by the next date of hearing on February 1.

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 74kg category.

The court, during the hearing, asked the CBI what it had been doing since he made the complaint.

"Why no action till now? What have you been doing for the past two-and-a-half years? This is the CBI, not some other agency," the court said and added 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.

"It would not only be a personal loss, it would be a loss to sports and a loss to bring glory to India. Sportsperson have a short shelf life. Also imagine the ignominy of it," the judge said.

The CBI, represented by central government standing counsel Ripudaman Singh Bhardwaj, 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 Yadav.

Bhardwaj 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.

The court then said it wants to know how the agency has pursued the matter and asked it to show when it had sent the requests and to whom and what was the response received.

"I want to see how you have pursued the matter, will have to see the conduct of your officers," the judge said during the hearing.

"A DIG rank officer shall look into the matter and inform the court within 10 days," the court said.

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.