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| March 19, 2002 | Tuesday | Muharram 4, 1423 |
Harbhajan injured in police assault
GUWAHATI, March 18: India’s leading off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was injured Monday after being assaulted by police outside the team hotel, witnesses said.
“Ha his hands are bruised,” an employee of the hotel said.
The Indian Cricket Board has lodged a complaint with Assam state’s government, officials said.
“It was a very unfortunate incident and we have told the district magistrate and other senior officials about the matter,” Indian team manager Sunil Khanna said.
“Harbhajan was already carrying an injury in his finger and the scuffle that followed with the police further aggravated the wounds. There was some bleeding and he was given first aid by a doctor.”
Team officials said most of the players were “very upset” after the incident.
Witnesses said the trouble began when a Delhi-based sports photographer wanted to go inside the hotel to meet Harbhajan.
“When the policemen didn’t allow the photographer entry inside the hotel, Harbhajan came down to the gate and asked the security to let him in as the photographer had a valid pass from the Indian team manager,” the witness said.
“What followed was total chaos with policemen assaulting both Harbhajan and the photographer, hitting them very badly.”
Assam’s police chief Hare Krishna Deka said the police officer who was at the hotel “should have been able to handle the situation”.
“It was unfortunate that there was trouble,” he said. “If we get a formal complaint from the Cricket Board then we shall conduct a probe and find out what actually happened.”
Police had taken strict security precautions ahead of the match, barring Indian and Zimbabwean cricketers from leaving their hotels without escorts.
Indian authorities are battling a number of separatist militant groups in Assam, where more than 10,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in the past two decades.—AFP
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