A CBI enquiry has revealed that parents of four national and international level table tennis players of West Bengal had manipulated their children’s birth certificates to avail scholarships/grants from the Centre/State Governments.
The agency has decided against filing criminal cases against such players saying the cases do not relate to corruption and the offence of cheating was committed by private individuals of West Bengal.
In its report to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, CBI has said manipulation of age certificates is rampant in other sports in India. The sports integrity unit of the agency has taken up the enquiry in the matter against four players — all minor girls between 14-18 years of age from West Bengal on the basis of a complaint received by it.
The agency claimed one of the girls of North Bengal Table Tennis Association secured third ranking in junior category in 2013 despite being ineligible for the events in which she had participated.
Another player of West Bengal TT Association secured first ranking in sub-junior category in 2009 while another player from the Association went on to earn second national ranking in cadet category in 2009 and first ranking in sub-junior category in 2011, it said.
The CBI report has brought out that parents and guardians of the players had allegedly claimed that their birth certificates were lost and got new age certificates, with age reduced between one to three years, issued on the basis of court affidavits misuing the provisions of Section 13(3) of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act. On the basis of these certificates, one player of North Begal Table Tennis Association had taken scholarship worth Rs2.5 lakh from Airport Authority of India.
Another player from West Begal Table Tennis Association (WBTTA), who participated in international tournaments, obtained scholarships worth Rs4.92 lakhs from Indian Oil and ONGC while a third one, also of WBTTA, took Rs60,000 from Airport Authority of India as contractual amount.