Journalism of Courage
Boxer Vijender Singh refused to cooperate with Punjab Police during his two-and-a-half-hour interrogation on Monday. Police said he had refused to give samples of his blood and hair required for forensic examination as part of the investigation into last weeks drug bust.
Sources said Vijender evaded most questions,and said he did not know Anoop Singh Kahlon,the alleged drug smuggler arrested with heroin worth Rs 130 crore. He apparently sought to explain his mobile phone conversations with Kahlon by saying he was a celebrity who sometimes did not know the people he was speaking to.
Vijender said that he had lent his vehicle to his sparring partner Ram Singh and had no idea how it had come to be parked outside Kahlons house from where drugs were seized.
Sources said the Punjab Police officers who questioned Vijender were under strict orders to treat the national sporting icon with dignity.
Vijender came to the Panchkula police lines guesthouse at 5.30 pm,and was followed a few minutes later by a police team from Fatehgarh Sahib led by a DSP-level officer in a private vehicle.
He was questioned from 5.45 pm to 8.15 pm. The interrogators had come armed with a list of 30-40 questions for Vijender,sources said.
