'Lakshya Sen FIR was lodged because complainant's daughter was turned away from academy'

Lakshya Sen and his coach Vimal Kumar have received relief with regards to the age fraud FIR lodged against the badminton player. The Karnataka HC has stayed criminal proceedings against Lakshya and his coach based on a petition filed by them.

In the petition, the accused player and his coach claimed that the case had been lodged to humiliate them. The charges were made up in revenge as the complainant's daughter had been turned away from Prakash Padukone's training academy two years ago, it said.

"Disgruntled and unhappy with the rejection of his daughter's bid to join the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, the complainant has now sought to harass petitioner no. 2 (Vimal Kumar) by making him a party to the complaint," the petition said.

The petition also contended that the issue of age fabrication had been closed in 2018 as the Central Vigilance Commission had accepted the birth records and concluded that no action was required against him.

"The allegation in the complaint that petitioners had engaged in committing age fraud as stated in the preliminary inquiry issued by the CBI is wholly false and frivolous since the complaint fails to disclose that the Central Vigilance Commission had cleared accused no. 1 (Lakshya's father) of all charges in its office memorandum dated February 6, 2018," it said.

A vacation bench of Justice S. Rachaiah passed the interim order on the petition last week.

On December 1, an FIR had been lodged against Lakshya Sen, the country's top-ranked male shuttler. A magistrate's court had ordered for investigation of the allegation made in the complaint lodged by one Nagaraja M.G.

The FIR alleged that the birth certificates of Lakshya Sen and his brother, who is also a badminton player, were fabricated in connivance with Vimal Kumar, a coach at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy.