Bengaluru police registered an FIR against commonwealth gold medallist and international badminton player Lakshya Sen for allegedly falsifying his age.
A complaint was filed by Nagaraja M G, who runs the Sri Sai badminton academy. The police registered the FIR after the 8th ACMM court directed the police to investigate the matter. Apart from Lakshya, the High Grounds police named his father Dhirendra Sen, elder brother Chirag Sen, coach Vimal Kumar and mother Nirmala Sen in the FIR.
According to Nagaraja, Kumar, a coach at the Prakash Padukone Badminton academy, colluded with Lakshya parents and forged a birth certificate in 2010 in order to allow Lakshya participate in tournaments which are restricted to certain age groups.
Lakshya (21), according to the records, was born in 2001 but Nagaraja alleged that he was born in 1998. Lakshya is a former world junior who has won gold medals in the 2018 Asian Junior Championships, 2022 Commonwealth games and various other international tournaments. When reached out, Dhirendra was not available for a comment.
While Lakshya is presently participating in the senior category of badminton, Nagaraja’s allegation is that many budding players, who played in the correct age groups, were cheated.
The police have registered a case under Sections 420 (cheating), 468 (Forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (Using as genuine a forged record).
A native of Uttarakhand, Lakshya was trained at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy. His father is a coach at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) while his brother Chirag is also a badminton player.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (central) R Srinivas Gowda told The Indian Express, “An FIR has been registered based on the court directions. We will collect all the documents from the complainant and will further inquire. It is too early to comment.”
Lakshya has won gold medals at the 2018 Asian Junior Championships in the boys’ singles and at the Summer Youth Olympics in the mixed team event. He also won the bronze medal at the 2021 World Championships and was the runners-up at the 2022 All England Open. He was also a part of the Indian team which won the Thomas Cup, 2022. The Arjuna awardee also won a gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham in men’s singles badminton.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Lakshya coach Vimal Kumar said, “I don’t know what are the allegations made by the complainant. I have no role in it whatsoever. Lakshya came to the academy and I trained him from 2010, just like any other child.”
Asked if he was aware of the complaints, he said, “I had heard that a parent is levelling allegations to malign the image of the academy and me but it did not bother us in any way.”