Ace shuttler Lakshya Sen, parents, brother & coach named in age fraud FIR

The complinant suggested that the ages of Lakshya and Chirag were fudged to help them compete in badminton tournaments since 2010

India’s top-ranked badminton player Lakshya Sen, his parents, brother and coach have been named in a cheating case that the city police registered on the court’s directions. The allegation is that the shuttler and his elder brother Chirag Sen fudged their age.

The complaint was filed by Nagaraja M G, who previously ran a badminton academy in the city. His daughter is a badminton player and his son is a cricketer.

High Grounds police invoked IPC sections related to cheating, forgery and using a forged document as genuine in the FIR registered on Thursday. Nagaraja filed a private complaint in the 8th ACMM court, which ordered the police to register the FIR and investigate the matter.

Besides Lakshya and Chirag, their father Dhirendra Sen, mother Nirmala Sen and national coach Vimal Kumar U have been named in the FIR.

Nagaraja submitted two documents, including the one submitted at the time of admission to the Karnataka Badminton Association, in support of his claim. As per the two documents, there’s a difference of almost a year in age.

Nagaraja suggested that the ages of Lakshya and Chirag were fudged to help them compete in badminton tournaments since 2010.

Police plan to issue notices to all those named in the FIR and summon them for questioning.

Vimal Kumar, Lakshya’s coach and one of those named in the FIR, told DH: “I would like to state categorically that the allegations made against me related to any involvement in age fraud are baseless, frivolous and made with malicious intent.

As all badminton lovers are aware, age verification is the sole prerogative and responsibility of the Badminton Association of India (BAI), which is the sole governing authority for administering the game in India.

All players, no matter where they train, always represent their respective affiliated state units or the country while participating in any domestic or international tournament.

My focus over the 30 years as a coach has always been to groom our upcoming youngsters to the best of my abilities to bring laurels to our country based on their merit. I therefore deny all these false allegations against me. I would not like to make any further comments in this regard.”