India table tennis player Soumyajit Ghosh accused of raping 18-year-old

New Delhi: India's table tennis player Soumyajit Ghosh has been accused of allegedly raping an 18-year-old girl. Ghosh, who represented India at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, confirmed that an FIR had been filed against him in Kolkata. 

The complainant told Bengali newspaper Ebela that Ghosh promised to marry her but later refused. The paddler, though has denied the charges and said the lady blackmailed 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 oof her relatives at a private hospital in Kolkata,” Ghosh told Ebela from Germany. 

Though, he accepted that they both were suppose to marry. But due to her excessive blackmailing, he refused to take it forward. The girl also said that she once got pregnant with Ghosh and had to undergo an abortion later.  

Ghosh is also member of India's Commonwealth Games (CWG) contingent, and the allegations, if proven, may have an impact on his participation. "We can't comment on it until we get all the details on the case," said Narinder Batra, president of the Indian Olympic Association, while taking questions from the media at the official send-off ceremony of India's Commonwealth Games contingent. 

"As far as as replacement, if needed, is concerned, there are certain rules related to injuries, etc., but I don't think there's a provision in case of a legal case against an athlete. It needes to be checked though," Batra added.