Shooting body in the dock for ‘cheating’ aspiring coach
From being the parent body of shooting in the country, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) is in the firing line for 'cheating' an aspiring coach. Ajai Masand reports.
From being the parent body of shooting in the country, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) is in the firing line for 'cheating' an aspiring coach.
Akhilesh Pratap Singh of Bikaner has filed a case under Sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) against top NRAI officials for "throwing him out" of the international shooting federation (ISSF) Jury Judges Course at Asansol in September.
Akhilesh, a pistol shooter and organiser of state-level championships in Rajasthan, completed the formalities for the course and even attended the introductory lecture on September 17, 2011, but when he came back after the break, the instructors told him that his name had been struck off the list. "They misbehaved and virtually threw me out," said Akhilesh. Copies of communication with the NRAI show that Akhilesh's registration had been accepted by the NRAI.
No choice
Left with no alternative, he approached the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate in Bikaner, who instructed the police to appoint an investigation officer to probe the matter. On Wednesday, Rajasthan Police's ASI Sohan Lal and Subhash Kumar visited the NRAI office and grilled the officials till late afternoon. "We cannot comment now. We will prepare our report and submit it," said Lal.
Interestingly, course convenor, VK Dhall, who is president of the West Bengal Rifle Association and in whose hotel the course was conducted, got cent per cent marks. The only other person to secure 100% was Amarjang Singh, a close aide of NRAI president Raninder Singh.
While the marks may be coincidental, Akhilesh said the matter should be investigated.
Raninder, when contacted, changed his statement twice, first saying that since the number of participants was high, "We asked Akhilesh to apply for the next course."
Later he said, "Since Akhilesh didn't take permission from the state association, he was told he couldn't take the course. He (Akhilesh) then wrote to the ISSF, which said that the NRAI was right in debarring him and we returned him the cheque," said Raninder.
HT is in possession of the registration form where no such criterion is mentioned.
"The cheque hasn't reached me and I wasn’t accommodated in the next course in November," said Akhilesh.