Vijender Singh sweats as National Institute of Sports (NIS) knocks out Ram Singh

Boxer Ram Singh was on Sunday expelled from the National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala, after he admitted to unwittingly consuming drugs with sparring partner and Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh.

Ram, a former national championship medallist in the super heavyweight category who serves as a head constable with the Punjab police, said he and Vijender had experimented with drugs on a few occasions. The admission came on the heels of a police interrogation after the boxers’ names cropped up during investigation into the recovery of heroin worth Rs130 crore from the flat of an NRI drug peddler, Anup Singh Kahlon, in Zirakpur, Chandigarh, last Friday.

Ram told the police that he had been in touch with Kahlon since 2007 and that he had introduced him to Vijender last December. Although Vijender has admitted to having met the NRI once or twice, he firmly denies having taken heroin from him.

Ram admitted on Saturday that the duo had “consumed small quantities of drug” on a few occasions, later found to be heroin, given to them by Kahlon. He, however, claimed that they were in the dark about the nature of the substance. Instead, he added, they had assumed they were taking “food supplements”.

Meanwhile, the police on Sunday raided a factory in a village in Fatehgarh Sahib belonging to the relatives of Jagdish Bhola, an Arjuna Award winning wrestler who is the alleged drug lord of the ring.

Fatehgarh Sahib superintendent of police Hardyal Singh Mann refused to comment on the possibility of questioning Vijender. Other police sources said although there is no proof that he was peddling drugs, he may be called in for questioning to explain his links with Kahlon.

@b_ajay65