Alleging fraud, youths go on rampage at half marathon in Varanasi; one organiser held

Alleging fraud by organisers during a race event, a large number of young participants on Sunday indulged in stone-pelting and also chased away former MP and Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Ramakant Yadav from Krishak Inter College, Harahua—the venue for the event— around 10 km from Varanasi city, police said.

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In the melee, 12 athletes from Kenya, both male and female, lost their belongings. On getting information, police reached the spot and took Dinesh Singh Yadav, said to be one of the organisers, into custody.

District magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said the organisers had not taken permission from the district administration for the event.

“Police have been ordered to register an FIR against the organisers. Strict action would be ensured against them,” the DM added.

He said the losses suffered by participants would be recovered from the organisers. He further said if any participant wished to file a complaint against the organisers in this connection, the police would accept their complaint and register an FIR.

Station officer, Badagaon police station, Sanjay Singh said a case would be registered against the organisers under Sections 419 (cheating by impersonation) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property ) of the Indian Penal Code in this connection. Singh said that the foreign athletes went back along with their guide. They were provided immediate assistance, he said.

Sachin Kumar, a participant from Delhi, said, “I paid Rs 350 as entry fee for 21-kilometre cross-country race. Around 12,000 athletes registered for the race. However, the organisers neither provided T-shirts nor made arrangements for food.”

Kumar alleged, “When we asked the organiser to return our money, they refused.”

He said that organisers informed them that half marathon was of seven km. Entry for athletes from all countries was open to the event, he claimed.

As per the police, the participants said they were promised that Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav will be the chief guest.

Instead, former MP Ramkant Yadav reached the venue as the chief guest, they claimed.

Even before the former MP could reach the venue, the organisers had flagged off the race and around 60 percent of participants started running, the police said.

The remaining 40 percent asked the organisers as to how they would be able to catch up with those who started running a few minutes before them. This led to an argument between the young participants and the organizers, following which youths allegedly went on a rampage.

Sensing trouble, Ramakant Yadav left the scene but angry participants pelted his convoy with stones, the police added.

As per the police, the Swadharm Manav Kalyana Trust had organised ‘half marathon’ and ‘cross country race’ in national and international categories.

The youths, who reached the venue, claimed that the registrations for the events were accepted both online and offline by the Trust for which the organisers charged Rs 200 and Rs 350 respectively.

The organisers had announced on the leaflets given to the participants that the winner of the ‘half marathon’ will be given a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh and that of cross country race will get Rs 51,000, the police said.

The police said thousands of participants from Haryana, UP and Punjab gathered at the venue. Some Kenyan participants too reached the venue to take part in the event.