Cops to move court to force Vijender to cooperate

A day after Vijender Singh refused to provide blood and hair samples for forensic examination, top sources in the Punjab Police said investigators would go to court to get the boxer to cooperate.

During nearly three hours of interrogation on Monday evening, Vijender had stonewalled most questions about his involvement in last week's mega drug bust at alleged narcotics smuggler Anoop Singh Kahlon's home in Zirakpur in Mohali.

The sources said police were likely to move court sooner than later because evidence of drug use stays in hair for only a few months, and delay in testing might produce flawed results. They said Punjab Police would not accept the result of a test on any sample collected from the boxer by any other agency, including the National Anti-Doping Agency or the Haryana Police, his employer.

SSP Fatehgarh Sahib, Hardayal Singh Mann, however, said police were not focusing all their attention on the boxer: "We are keener on nabbing the others involved in this international drug chain." Police sources said it was unlikely that Vijender would be questioned again soon.

The Fatehgarh Sahib police continued to question Vijender's sparring partner Ram Singh. Sources said he had alleged that Vijender had "insisted" on meeting Kahlon on several occasions in the past month. One meeting, at which Ram claimed he was present, allegedly took place at midnight at Kahlon's Zirakpur home. Police sources said Ram's claim was corroborated by Vijender's call records.

On Monday, alleged narcotics courier Paramjit Singh — suspected to have been working for both Kahlon and Canadian citizen Manpreet Singh Gill alias Mani who was arrested in Mandi Gobindgarh on Friday — was brought from Delhi's Tihar jail to Fatehgarh Sahib on a production warrant.

Police sources said a list of suspects had been shared with the police in Brampton, a suburb of Toronto, and the Canadians too had begun investigations to track the drug chain. Gill and his accomplice Gabbar Singh — who too has been arrested — allegedly smuggled ingredients of party drugs to Canada through the US.

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