Gold medal winning athlete Pinki Pramanik was allegedly involved in a land scam as she had illegally sold a plot leased to her by the West Bengal government free of cost. ”The land was given to Pramanik for building her personal residence and not for making profit,” West Bengal Sports Minister Madan Mitra alleged. “There’s a five-storey residence coming up at the spot. One can find the name of the present owner from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation records,” the Minister said.
Pramanik, was has also been accused of being a male by her live-in partner, a 30-year-old estranged woman who alleged she was raped by the athelete, has denied any wrongdoing. The land was given to Pramanik after her gold medal winning feat in the 2006 Asian Games in Qatar. The West Bengal Athletic Association had done the registration for the plot by spending Rs 75,000.
Earlier, adding another twist in the rape case, the Asian Games gold medalist’s medical report claimed that the athelete has predominantly male characteristics. An 11-member medical board of the SSKM Hospital concluded that Pramanik has 46, XY Karyotype, which is common in a normal male. The report came on a day when a local court in Barasat granted Pramanik bail saying that preliminary medical reports make it clear Pramanik is “not capable of committing rape”. The former middle-distance runner, who had won the 4x400m relay gold in the 2006 Doha Asiad, was accused of being a male and walked out of Dum Dum Central Jail of Kolkata. A PIL was moved in the Calcutta High Court on July 6 alleging inhuman torture on the athelete. The West Bengal Human Rights Commission also stepped in, directing the home, health and police departments to inquire into the alleged “inhuman torture” on the athlete in police and jail custody.
