According to reports by the India Today group, it has emerged that a suspect individual has been arrested for allegedly mixing substances in the food of Narsingh Yadav. The tampering reportedly occurred during Narsingh's stay at the SAI (Sports Authority of India) hostel in Sonepat last month in June.
This is the first concrete indication pointing to underhand attempts made to slander the young pugilist, who is one of India’s medal hopefuls in the upcoming Rio Games.
The sportsman's juniors and cook at the SAI hostel mess in Sonepat have testified to witnessing his food being spiked by an unknown intruder in June. Yadav’s cook Vijay and junior Chandan Yadav had earlier brought up the issue of having noticed something unusual down in the kitchens.
Alleging that the food cooked for Narsingh on the fifth of last month had been adulterated with some unknown white powdery substance, they vehemently stood by their compatriot, defending his clean image.
"Lentils were being fried with tomato and onion slices. But there was some powdery substance," claimed Vijay.
"It resembled baking soda," intervened another man standing beside Vijay.
“I was frying the food and he (Vijay) was making the rotis. There was another boy (who had come in). He wanted the knife I was using. I refused. He would have done it (the adulteration) when I moved away (from the stove) to get some water," said Chandan Yadav, nicknamed Pintu.
It seems now that the culprit behind this horrendous act has been identified and apprehended. It remains to see how things pan out regarding Narsingh’s Olympic hopes if he is cleared of the charges, and what that would mean for the perpetrators of this crime.
