Vijender Singh's name crops up in drug haul, boxer denies links

The name of Olympic medal winning boxer Vijender Singh cropped up today in the wake of recovery of 26 kg of heroin worth an estimated Rs130 crore from an NRI's house in Mohali's district in which a fellow pugilist was questioned.

Vijender(27), a DSP rank officer with Haryana police, on his part trashed allegations he has links with an alleged NRI drug dealer arrested by the Punjab Police, saying the "ridiculous charges" would be proved wrong in investigations.

Punjab police had recovered 26 kg of heroin from Anoop Singh Kahlon's house in 'Savastik Vihar' in Zirakpur on the outskirts of the city in Mohali district yesterday. Four peersons including Kahlon have been arrested so far.

During interrogation, Kahlon alleged that two boxers Vijender Singh and Ram Singh, a Punjab police inspector, were his "clients" and used to visit him. Police said Vijender will be quizzed if required.

Besides Kahlon, an alleged drug peddler based in Canada, the other arrested person was Kulwinder Singh alias Rockey of Nawan Shahar Badala village in Kharar area of Mohali.

According to police sources, two more persons were arrested but their identity is not being disclosed on the plea further investigations may be hampered.

Initial probe by the Punjab police has not suggested any link with Vijender, whose wife's car was recovered at some distance from the NRI's house.

"We just recovered Vijender's car at some distance from the arrested NRI's house and there is nothing much after the initial probe to tell," Fathegarh Sahib SSP Hardyal Singh Mann told PTI in Chandigarh over phone.

"In the initial probe there has been nothing to tell. Besides, it appears there is no link of the boxer with the person from whose house the heroin was seized," he said.

He, however, said that "if needed we may call Vijender for questioning. But at present there is nothing in connection with Vijender," he added.

Vijender, the former world number one, who gave India its first Olympic medal in boxing in 2008, has denied that he knew the alleged NRI drug peddler.

"I am shocked. I am in Mumbai right now for work. My friends dropped me at the airport in my wife's car. I don't know how it reached outside that Zirakpur flat," the international boxer told PTI over phone.

Sources at National Institute of Sports (NIS) at Patiala said Police have questioned Ram Singh and so far found nothing incriminating againts him.

Haryana Police was also in touch with its counter-parts in Punjab following the seizure.