Commonwealth Games: Indian Officials Released Owing to Lack of Evidence

Two India officials Rajeev Mehta and Virender Malik, who were arrested on different grounds in Glasgow, were released because of lack of evidence, putting an end to the embarrassment faced by the Indian contingent in the Commonwealth Games.

Though Mehta is the secretary of the Indian Olympic Association and Malik is a wrestling referee, they were not put up with the Indian players in the athletes' village.

An Indian High Commission official informed that the case of both the officials did not come up in the Sheriff's Court for hearing and they were released. Mehta was arrested for drunken driving, while Malik was facing more severe charges of sexual assault.

"Charges against both of them have been dropped due to lack of evidence," the High Commission official informed. "They have been released without any charges being framed."

Anandeshwar Pandey, Uttar Pradesh Olympic Association secretary, informed that the officials were released after the primary investigation, as the police couldn't find evidences to press charges against the duo.

"During primary investigation, they (Scotland Police) couldn't find enough evidence to frame charges," Pandey said. "So they were let off without being produced before the court."

Pandey revealed that Mehta had a minor accident while driving a friend's car out of a parking lot.

The IOC secretary said that the matter was completely blown out of proportion as he was not drunk during the accident and his test report was also negative. He insisted that he had done nothing wrong and the charges were rightly dropped.

"I had come out of a party and was on my way to somewhere else," Mehta explained. "Then the accident happened but I was not at fault. The girls who were inside the other car were driving on the wrong side of the road."

"That's the reason that the case didn't even come up for hearing as it was dropped at the prosecution level," he concluded. "There was nothing found in any of my medical reports and that's why there were no charges framed against me."

Meanwhile, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has come down hard at the tainted referee Malik and suspended him. WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar informed that the sanction will continue, despite the charges being dropped against him.

"The suspension will continue till we get a final report from our secretary Raj Singh, who also was chef-de-mission of the Indian contingent for the CWG 2014, and the internal inquiry that we have ordered is finished," Tomar informed.

"We have also sought opinion of the wrestling coaches and officials, who were part of the Indian delegation," he added. "And a final decision will only be taken after receiving all these reports."