Goons beat up SAI doctor

New Delhi: In a shocking incident, a medical officer with the Sports Authority of India (SAI), known to be a whistle-blower within the organisation, was severely beaten up by miscreants outside the SAI campus in Patiala on Monday night.

Dr Sajib Nandi, who, for the past four years, has been fighting against what he alleges is corruption within SAI, was returning home when he was attacked from behind.

He was left profusely bleeding and unconscious on the road before police picked him up and admitted him to the nearby Rajendra Hospital.

So mercilessly was he beaten up that Dr Nandi needed stitches on his right eye. “I still can’t see with my right eye,” Nandi told The Telegraph from his hospital bed.

“There was more than one assailant although I could not recognise any of them. They attacked me with blunt weapons,” added Dr Nandi.

Dr Nandi also alleged that the attack was carried out in a planned manner. “I was supposed to appear in front of an enquiry committee on the 11th of this month.

“I intended to expose all the corrupt practices going on in SAI. The attack on me was an obvious attempt to silence me,” he said.

In his complaint to the police, Dr Nandi has alleged that a senior SAI official and a coach, both from Patiala, were responsible for the attack.

The investigating officer, Satpal Sharma, however, said that the matter was still under investigation.

Two months back, Dr Nandi wrote to the secretary cum principal information officer of SAI requesting information under the Right to Information (RTI) act.

The RTI was mainly directed against some senior SAI officials, including the executive director (academics) in SAI, Patiala, L.S. Ranawat.

In a separate letter to the central vigilance commissioner last year, Dr Nandi also brought several corruption charges against the director, personnel and coaching, Amar Bhardwaj.

In 2006, Dr Nandi was transferred out of Patiala after charges against him by another SAI employee were found true following an internal investigation.

Dr Nandi called the decision “vindictive” and refused to accept the transfer order.

He has been fighting the SAI authorities since then.