Weeks after suspending one of the deputy directors of the UP sports directorate, SS Mishra, for his alleged involvement in financial and administrative irregularities, the state government has suspended Etawah’s sports officer Naresh Chandra Yadav on the charges of sexual misconduct with karate exponents.

An FIR was registered against Yadav under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, at the Civil Lines police station in Etawah on June 28, 2022. Subsequently, an inquiry was ordered against Yadav by the sports department, and he was suspended on August 11.

As per reports, Yadav, despite being suspended, took part in the I-Day function in Etawah and even unfurled the national flag violating the norms of the U.P. Government employees’ policy.

Confirming the suspension of Yadav, director of sports, RP Singh said on Friday that deputy director sports RN Singh has been named inquiry officer in this case. “RN Singh has been asked to submit his inquiry report in a month. Yadav has been attached to the sports directorate after his suspension,” the director of sports order stated.

“It has come to my knowledge that he (Yadav) also attended the flag hoisting ceremony at Etawah despite being suspended. If true, then it was a case of blatant neglect of the government’s policy,” RP Singh said.

This isn’t the first time that the U.P. sports directorate has suspended its employee, who has been charged with sexual harassment of female athletes.

One of the regional sports officers was charged for allegedly raping hostel inmates during his posting at Agra in 2010. Another regional sports officer was suspended in 2012 after an FIR was lodged against him for allegedly barging into the house of a deputy sports officer at Amitabh Bachchan Sports Complex in Prayagraj at night and misbehaving with his wife in his absence. Later, he also had an altercation with another sports officer on the same campus.

According to reports an FIR against Naresh Yadav was only registered after a member of the U.P. state child protection commission Suchita Chaturvedi, intervened. In the FIR, the two karate exponents, both under the age of 15, alleged that coach Yadav molested them in Etawah stadium during the training hours on the morning of December 6, 2021.

“Both the trainees were threatened with dire consequences when they tried to file a complaint with the police on January 1, 2022,” states the suspension letter. However, Yadav, on being contacted, refuted all the charges levelled against him. “It’s a conspiracy of an ad hoc karate coach, who has instigated the two sportswomen to lodge an FIR against me,” he said, on Friday.

“I have been already acquitted from all the charges and waiting for the police to submit the final report,” he claimed, adding, “Yes, I did participate in the I-Day function as there was no intimation to me about my suspension then.”