Manika Batra match-fixing allegation: Ex-SC judge Vikramjit Sen to head 3-member probe panel

Manika Batra, who was left out of the Indian contingent for the Asian Table Tennis Championships, had moved the court earlier this year alleging that the national coach Soumyadeep Roy ‘pressurized’ her to ‘throw away’ an Olympic qualifier match in favour of one of his trainees. 

The Delhi High Court has constituted a three-member committee under the chairmanship of former judge of the Supreme Court Justice Vikramjit Sen to look into the allegation by star table tennis player Manika Batra of a match-fixing attempt by the national coach. Another former Supreme Court judge Justice AK Sikri and Arjuna Awardee and Padma Shri Winner athlete Gurbachan Singh Randhawa will also form part of the committee, said Justice Rekha Palli, while dealing with Batra's petition against the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI).

Batra, who was left out of the Indian contingent for the Asian Table Tennis Championships, had moved the court earlier this year alleging that the national coach Soumyadeep Roy ‘pressurized’ her to ‘throw away’ an Olympic qualifier match in favour of one of his trainees. She also claimed that TTFI was carrying out its selection processes in a non-transparent manner and targeting certain individuals such as herself.

Given the ‘serious nature of allegations’ levelled by the petitioner, the judge requested the committee to conduct the inquiry as expeditiously as possible and submit its report preferably within four weeks. “However, since this Court had already directed on September 23, 2021, that the allegations levelled by the petitioner were required to be examined by an independent body other than the respondent no.1 (TTFI), and since the Committee appointed by the respondent no.2 (Centre) has failed to examine the same, it is deemed appropriate to appoint a three-member committee to examine the complaints of the petitioner made against respondent no.3 (national coach) and other officials of respondent no.1 in her correspondence dated August 14, 26 and September 17, 2021,” the court said in its order passed on November 17.