FIR Against Badminton Star Lakshya Sen Over Alleged Age Fraud: Report

India's number one shuttler Lakshya Sen, his family and former national coach Vimal Kumar were charged with cheating and age fraud in an FIR filed in Bengaluru.

India's number one shuttler Lakshya Sen, his family and former national coach Vimal Kumar were charged with cheating and age fraud in an FIR filed in Bengaluru. The FIR, filed on Thursday by M Goviappa Nagaraja, alleged that the 21-year-old reigning Commonwealth Games champion, along with his brother Chirag Sen, had fudged their age to get into playing age-group tournaments since 2010. The complaint, a copy of which is in possession of PTI, also names Sen's father Dhirendra, a coach with the Sports Authority of India, mother Nirmala and Kumar who has been coaching the duo for more than 10 years.

They have been charged with cheating (Section 420), forgery (468), using a forged document as genuine (471) and acts done by several persons of common intention (34) under the Indian Penal Code.

The Sen brothers, who hail from Uttarakhand, train under Kumar at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru, while the complainant runs another academy in the metropolis.

The complainant alleged that Kumar colluded with Lakshya's parents to forge a birth certificate in 2010 and if the charges were proven, the star Indian shuttler, who was awarded the Arjuna recently, will have to forego a lot of his records.

Categorically denying the charges, Kumar told PTI: "It is very annoying. It is cheap stuff. Lakshya has done well and has started training again after a break. It is mentally very disturbing for him." Currently No. 6 in the world, Lakshya was on Wednesday honoured with the Arjuna Award at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He won a World Championship bronze after going down to compatriot Kidambi Srikanth in 2021.