Director General of Sports Authority of India (SAI) Injeti Srinivas on Saturday admitted the possibility of foul play in the suicide incident involving four female athletes at the SAI centre in Alapuzha, Kerala but refused to speculate on the reason that led the quartet to take such an extreme step. “It is possible that there was some foul play. Something did happen. But would that lead to a situation to compel the young girls to take the extreme step of suicide, that law will decide,” Srinivas, who made a one-day visit to Kerala for an on spot “administrative” assessment, said.
“It is possible that it was a case of ragging. Nobody is saying that nothing happened. The facts are out in front of everyone — the suicide note, what it mentions, the dying declaration to the mother. It is a lawful and complex matter. But we have to be careful in how we term it. Is it a case of ragging or of harassmentIJ We’re not running away from it. But you have to understand that it is not subject to SAI alone and action needs to be taken on a systematic level,” he added.
In a tragic incident on Thursday, four athletes at the Water Sports Centre of SAI in Alapuzha, attempted suicide after alleged harassment by their seniors. One of the four — Aparna Ramabhadran — succumbed while the other three are still in the hospital. Srinivas told the mediapersons on Saturday that their condition has improved considerably. The four had formed a suicide pact and eaten poisonous fruit.
Srinivas, who was in Kerala for a day, shed some light on his conversations with the warden and other athletes in the hostel. “I have enquired from the SAI warden and spoken to the other inmates at the center but they did not say anything about it (alleged harassment by seniors). “I also visited the boy’s hostel and talked to the boys and they could not figure what could have gone wrong. All my enquiries reveal that they could not find the reason (of suicide),” he stated.
He admitted that there were no CCTV’s in place in the hostel and said it was a lesson for everyone going forward. “I’ll have to admit that we don’t have technologies in place in our centres. We don’t have CCTVs. These are the issues that we will need to consider. Sports Minister desired that we should have an external committee constituted comprising reputed athletes, reputed coaches and other experts who could study the system immediately. We will then provide a report in a month so they can be implemented quickly.”
He clarified that there was no delay or deliberate negligence on the part of the SAI employees stating the four athletes were taken to the hospital in a matter of an hour and the pacemaker was put on them. He also mentioned that during his investigation he was told that there are 500-600 cases every year of people consuming the poisonous fruit -- either inadvertently or with an objective. Speaking about the three girls who are in the hospital, he said that they will be kept under observation for 72 hours.
“Medical attention of surviving girls is our priority. A medical board of experts from AIIMS has been set up to help board of doctors from the government hospital. They had consultations through video conference and the treatment was reviewed in detail. After inputs from AIIMS experts, the line of treatment was modified by the local doctors,” he said.
“The latest input I got is that the condition of the girls has improved substantially but they have to be kept at the hospital for another 72 hours. The poisonous fruit that had entered their systems must have entered the tissues and they will have to be kept for 72 hours more to ensure that they are 100 per cent out of trouble,” said the SAI DG. As a step forward, the 54-year-old Srinivas who took reigns of SAI in March, asked sportspersons to “adopt” SAI centres spread throughout the country. He also stated adoption of yoga and setting up of helplines for the athletes as a solution.
“We’re overwhelmed with the involvement which has been expressed by so many reputed sportspersons. I take this opportunity that we would like sportspersons — active or inactive — to consider adopting SAI centres. We have 250 centres but 75 core SAI centres so it is not an unimaginable number. Based on their own location, we will really look forward to top athletes coming forward on a voluntary basis.
“We’re fully conscious that though SAI runs these centres in a systemised manner, we don’t have anything in place to have psychological counselling. We feel that there is a need to deploy such experts at our centres and use them at regular intervals,” he said. Srinivas will submit a report to the Sports Minister within a month.