FIR against Badminton star Lakshya Sen for age fraud in Bengaluru

Mangalore Today News Network / News18

Bengaluru, Dec 03, 2022: Arjuna Award winning shuttler Lakshya Sen has been accused of fudging his age to get access to age-restricted tournaments while competing at the junior level, according to a report. The Commonwealth Games gold medallist now competes at the senior level, becoming one of the global badminton stars.

 

Police in Bengaluru have filed an FIR against Lakshya and a coach from his badminton academy following a complaint from Nagaraja MG who also runs a badminton academy in the city.

The development has come after a local court recently directed the police to launch an investigation into the allegations against the 21-year-old who trains at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru.

Amongst those named in the FIR include Lakshya, his coach Vimal Kumar, his father Dhirendra Sen, his brother Chirag and mother Nirmala.

Chirag is a badminton player himself and Dhirendra is a coach at the Sports Authority of India.

According to a report in the Indian Express, Nagaraja alleges that Vimal colluded with Lakshya’s parents to forge a birth certificate in 2010 which enabled him to take part in age-group tournaments he otherwise would have been ineligible to compete in.

While the records show that Lakshya was born in 2010, Nagaraja alleges he was born in 1998.

Vimal has denied being aware of the allegations made in the FIR. “I don’t even know the allegations made by the complainant. I have no role in this whatsoever. Lakshya came to the academy and I trained him from 2010, just like any other child," he was quoted as saying.

“I had heard that a parent was levelling allegations to malign the image of the academy and me. But it did not bother us in any way," he added.

The case has been registered  under various IPC Sections including 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged record).