New Delhi, March 12, 2013- Boxer Vijender Singh, being questioned by a Punjab Police team near here on Monday in a drugs seizure case, refused to give his blood and hair samples for forensic analysis, police said.
Police sources said the questioning at the Haryana Police Lines at Panchkula, 20 km from here, which started around 5.30 p.m lasted nearly three-and-a-half hours.
The Punjab Police began questioning boxerVijender Singh in connection with the drugs haul case.
Sources said that the boxer will be interrogated for his reported links with alleged NRI drug smuggler Anoop Kalon, the other accused in this case.
Meanwhile, Union Sports Minister Jitendra Singh on Monday said that appropriate action will be taken against Olympic bronze-medallist Vijender Singh only if the boxer is found guilty in the drug scandal that has rocked Indian boxing.
“At this point of time the investigation is going on by the Punjab Police. When the conclusion comes and somebody is implicated or chargesheeted, we will definitely take action,” said Singh.
“The guilty will be punished but that is the matter of Punjab Police. Investigation is being done by the Punjab Police,” he added.
Super heavyweight pugilist Ram Singh have already been expelled from the National Institute of Sports after admitting to consuming contraband.
Ram, a former national championships medallist, has admitted to experimenting with drugs along with Vijender, who has denied the allegations.
Their names cropped up after the unearthing of heroin worth Rs.130 crore from Fatehgarh Sahib at an NRI’s flat. An SUV registered in the name of Vijender’s wife was found outside the flat during the police raid.
Vijender, a former world number one, gave India its first Olympic medal in boxing when he clinched a bronze in the 2008 Games. Besides, he is an Asian Games gold-medallist and a multiple-time Commonwealth Games medallist.
Considered the poster boy of Indian boxing, Vijender has stated that he is not involved in the scandal and does not know the alleged drug peddler caught by the police.
Earlier, Ram claimed that the Vijender consumed drugs with him on a few occasions but insisted that the duo mistook the contraband for food supplements. Ram was Vijender’s roommate at the NIS.
