Another athlete has alleged foul play and has moved to the Delhi High Court to get her case quashed.
Sumati Devi, a national-level weightlifter, is currently facing a four-year ban for allegedly taking a prohibited substance, but has claimed in her plea that one of her roommates had given her a drink laced with the banned drug.
The weightlifter has now come out in the open after the Narsingh Yadav fiasco came to light a month ago.
Based on Devi’s plea, Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva of the Delhi High Court has sought a reply from National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) on the weightlifter’s plea and has also issued notices to the Centre and CRPF on Devi's petition.
Devi is currently working as a CRPF inspector and is a resident of Manipur. In her plea, she has sought to quash the July 8 order passed by NADA, indicating that the penalty of four years is "very harsh".
Roommate spikes drink
Devi has said that her roommate at the sports hostel, attached to the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium during the 63rd All India Police Games Championship in March 2015, had given her an “anabolic steroid” which was mixed into her protein drink.
The weightlifter had secured second position and as per rules, her urine sample was collected for testing to determine the presence of any prohibited substance, and her blood sample was also taken.
The plea said that she had participated in the 30th women national weightlifting championship held in Rajasthan, during which NADA had issued the first notice to her on April 10, 2015. The notice stated that some prohibited substances were found in her body.
Devi further explains in her plea that she went to the NADA office on April 21, 2015, to explain her case, but was served with a second notice on April 28.
Devi explained the sequence of events in her plea, where she claimed that on March 3, 2015, when she came to her room after practice, her roommate prepared a protein drink which was offered to her in a friendly manner.
Her plea added, “After much deliberation, it had come to her knowledge that one of her roommates/colleagues have given/shared her protein drink/food supplement. By now she is fully convinced that she must have laced the said drink with anabolic steroid during the said sports meet. Accordingly, she has lodged a written complaint to the Director General, NADA, for taking appropriate action against her on May 7, 2015.”
