Soumyajit Ghosh on rape charge against him: She’s blackmailing me
Soumyajit Ghosh, who has represented India at 2012 and 2016 Olympics, was accused by an 18-year-old of forcing to undergo abortion after the table tennis star got her pregnant. The IOA has said it will take a call on clearing him for 2018 Commonwealth Games once it receives details of the case.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) will take a call on table tennis player Soumyajit Ghosh’s participation in the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games after it gets details of the case filed against him, IOA president Narinder Batra said in New Delhi on Thursday.
Ghosh, one of India’s top players in the last decade who took part in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, has been accused of allegedly raping an 18-year-old girl. An FIR has been registered by Kolkata’s Barasat Women Police Station following her complaint on Wednesday.
According to Bengali daily Ebela, the complainant has said the 24-year-old Soumyajit Ghosh, an Arjuna awardee, had reneged on his promise to marry her.
“Someone told me about this. Normal protocol and rules will be followed on any action,” Batra said at a send-off function for the Indian contingent to CWG, which starts on April 4.
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If Ghosh is dropped, there is no guarantee a replacement will automatically be included. “There are certain protocols like injury (for replacements). I’m not sure this case comes under that.”
Soumyajit Ghosh has denied the charges, and claimed the girl was blackmailing him. “For the past one year, she has been taking money from me. I have receipts of more than Rs 1 lakh that I have paid her. I also have the documents to prove that I have borne the expenditure of medical treatment of one of her relatives at a private hospital in Kolkata,” Ghosh said on the phone from Germany.
Ghosh admitted they were supposed to get married. “I introduced her as my fiancee publicly after I received the Arjuna award in 2016. But I got tired of her blackmailing me only for money.”
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According to the report in Ebela, Ghosh, who became India’s youngest national champion at 19, and the girl had first interacted on social media in 2014 and then got into a relationship. The girl has claimed they met at Soumyajit Ghosh’s flat in Kolkata and in Siliguri, the table tennis star’s hometown. The complaint adds that she got pregnant and was forced to abort.
Ebela quoted another source as saying that the two may have even got married in a temple in North Bengal.
Barasat additional SP Abhijit Banerjee said, “We have received a complaint against table tennis player Soumyajit Ghosh and have started an investigation. The details can’t be revealed.”