Aide’s confession puts Vijender in trouble

March 10, 2013

Vijender_in_trouble

Chandigarh, Mar 10: Olympic medallist Vijender Singh appears to be heading for some trouble, with fellow boxer Ram Singh confessing before the Punjab Police that the duo had “experimented” with heroin towards the end of 2012.

The police on Thursday seized 26 kg of heroin valued at Rs 130 crore in the international market from two persons, identified as Anoop Singh Kahlon and Rocky.

Ram Singh, who has been Vijender’s roommate at the National Institute of Sports (NIS) in Patiala for several years, told the police that he had procured drugs from the two persons arrested in the case around six times till February. Singh, however, clarified that neither he nor Vijender was habituated to drugs.

Meanwhile, Kahlon, a Canada-based NRI?and former national level short putter, tried to commit suicide in police custody on Friday evening.

The alleged kingpin of an international drug racket slit his wrist with a wire. He was immediately rushed to hospital and discharged after treatment.

The police are yet to summon Vijender. They are ascertaining the veracity of the charges against the ace boxer. As of now, there is no direct evidence to link Vijender with peddlers.

The police have so far made six arrests in the case and seized some chemical substances.

According to sources, Ram Singh told the police that the duo had visited Kahlon’s Zirakpur residence on a few occasions since they started dabbling in heroin in December last year.

Singh also confessed to have made Vijender try heroin.

Vijender has trashed the allegations. “I completely deny the allegations. I do not know the person in question and I am not involved with him in any way. I may have met him but don’t know him personally or directly. I am more than willing to cooperate with the police and I have nothing to hide. My wife’s car being found at the scene is just a coincidence. The person in custody is possibly using my name to mislead the authorities and malign me.

My focus is and has always been my career,” he said.

Vijender came under the scanner after a car registered in the name of his wife was found outside Kahlon’s residence. Vijender is a recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and a deputy SP with the Haryana Police.

Another name that cropped up during the interrogations was that of wrestler Jagdish Bhola, a former police officer and Arjuna award recipient. Bhola is facing cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

The Punjab Police have recovered 10 kg of narcotics, used mainly in rave parties, from his house in Mohali district.

The contraband was valued at over Rs 1 crore in the international market. The police said the drugs were supplied to rave parties in Mumbai and Himachal Pradesh.

Bhola was earlier deputed as a DSP in Punjab, but suspended in 2002 after his name figured in a drug racket. He was also stripped of the Arjuna award. “We got a tip-off that drugs have been kept at Jagdish’s house during the interrogation of an international drug smuggler. We conducted raids, but Jagdish managed to flee. He is wanted in many other cases related to drug smuggling,” said the senior superintendent of the Fatehgarh Sahib police, who led the raid.

However, the police managed to arrest two accomplices of Jagdish and recovered Rs 1 crore in cash, 20 kg of narcotic chemicals and 2 kg of heroin. They were identified as Manpreet Singh and Gabbar Singh.

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News Network
May 2,2020

Melbourne, May 2: After becoming the number one side in Test cricket, Australia's head coach Justin Langer has said that his team has won back the respect of the country.

Australia dethroned India from the top spot in Tests and now the Men in Blue are in the third place.

Langer came in as the coach of Australia after the 2018 ball-tampering scandal and it took him some time to get the side back to winning ways.

Ever since the return of David Warner and Steve Smith, Australia went on to become a commendable side and the results reflect that.

"We have got lots of work to do to become the team we want to be. But over the last couple of years, not only have we performed well on the field, we have performed well off it. We have earned some respect back from other teams around the world but also from Australia," Langer said in an official statement.

"When we started on this journey, there had been a lot of talk about Australia wanting to be No. 1 in the world in all three forms of the game.

We took a different approach. Not once did we talk about being No. 1 ranked in the world. We wanted to be No.1 in our values and process. That is what I am most proud of," he added.

In the latest ICC rankings update, that rates all matches played since May 2019 at 100 per cent and those of the previous two years at 50 per cent, Australia (116) have taken over from India as the top-ranked side in the ICC men's Test team rankings with New Zealand (115) remaining in second place.

India is now third with 114 points. With only two points separating them, this is the second closest the top three teams have been since the Test rankings were launched in 2003.

The closest for the top three teams were in January 2016, when India had led Australia and South Africa by a single point.

Australia has also moved to the top spot in the T20I rankings for the first time in the format.

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News Network
January 24,2020

Auckland, Jan 24: K L Rahul and Shreyas Iyer smashed quick-fire half-centuries, while skipper Virat Kohli made 45 as India defeated New Zealand by six wickets in the first T20 International to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series here on Friday.

Chasing a challenging 204-run target, Rahul smashed 56 off 27 balls and together with Kohli shared 99 runs for the second wicket to lay the foundation for the chase.

Later, Iyer (58 not out off 29 balls) and Manish Pandey (14 not out) remained unbeaten as India chased down the target with an over to spare.

Earlier, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor smashed scintillating half-centuries to power New Zealand to a challenging 203 for five.

Opener Munro blasted six fours and two sixes in his 42-ball 59, while skipper Williamson treated the Indian bowlers with equal disdain, hitting them out of the park four times in his 26-ball 51.

Taylor then clobbered an unbeaten 54 off 27 balls. His innings was laced with three sixes and as many fours.

Opener Martin Guptill also chipped in with a 19-ball 30.

Earlier, India skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to field.

For India, Jasprit Bumrah (1/), Shardul Thakur (1/44), Yuzvendra Chahal (1/32), Shivam Dube (1/24) and Ravindra Jadeja (1/18) snapped one wicket each.

Brief Score:

New Zealand: 203 for 5 in 20 overs (Colin Munro 59, Kane Williamson 51, Ross Taylor 54; Jasprit Bumrah 1/31).

India: 204 for 4 in 19 overs (Shreyas Iyer 58 not out, K L Rahul 56, Virat Kohli 45; Ish Sodhi 2/36).

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Agencies
August 7,2020

Islamabad, Aug 7: Former Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, known for his blistering deliveries on the cricket field, recently baffled many with a deadly off-field bouncer by claiming he is willing to eat grass if it enabled an increase in budget for his country's Army!

"If Allah ever gives me the authority, I will eat grass myself but I will increase the budget of the army," said Akhtar in an interview with ARY News.

The 'Rawalpindi Express', considered the fastest bowler in history said he does not understand why the civilian sector cannot work in collaboration with the Armed forces.

"I will ask my army chief to sit with me and make decisions. If the budget is 20 per cent, I will make it 60 per cent. If we insult each other, the loss is ours only," the once feared fast-bowler said.

Akthar had also claimed to ARY News interview that he was willing to take a bullet for his country and had turned down a county stint just because he wanted to fight the 1999 Kargil War.

Ties between India and Pakistan have been strained in the recent months over several issues, the latest being Pakistan's attempt to broach in the UNSC the issue of Kashmir on the first anniversary of the India's move to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and to split the erstwhile state into two union territories .

Pakistan also has not been in a good financial position and under prime minister Imran Khan, himself an all rounder cricketer, has added nearly USD 22 billion, that is 35 per cent to the nation's international debt pile in the last two years, according to an Asia Times report in July.

While Pakistan recently received USD 1.39 billion from the IMF to cushion the economic shocks caused due to COVID-19 outbreak, Akthar had a few months ago proposed that a joint cricket match be played between India and Pakistan to raise funds to fight the coronavirus. The suggestion that was put down by cricketers in India.

Meanwhile the 'Pindi boy' whose deadly pace and bounce was once dreaded by batsmen had recently taken to Twitter to deny former India cricketer Virender Sehwag's claim of sledging him.

Sehwag along with other Indian crickerters such as Harbhajan Singh and even Rahul Dravid had been at the receiving end of Akthar's sledging and antics during their playing days.

"Yes, totally self made story by him. Mujhe yeh bol k bach k jana kidhar tha us nay," Akthar tweeted to a report in which Sehwag claimed that he had sledged the 'Rawalpindi Express' by telling him that Sachin Tendulkar was his father.

During an awards ceremony Sehwag had recounted that fed up with Akthar's sledging and retaliated by telling him to say the same things to Tendulkar, who smashed the 'Pindi boy' for a six. Sehwag quipped that he told Akthar then that "Baap baap hota hai".

In the recent ARY interview, asked about the allegation made against him by former India cricketer Virendra Sehwag that he makes pro-India comments for greater following on social media channels, Akhtar said, "I cannot talk on the basis of hate." 

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