Rio Olympics: Abhay Singh Chautala's Presence In Games Village Raises Few Eyebrows

Former Indian Olympic Association president Abhay Singh Chautala's presence at the Rio Olympics has raised a few eyebrows. The politician from Haryana was spotted at the athletes village posing with a few prominent members of the Indian contingent, wearing an all area access pass.

On being asked who granted him the accreditation pass Sports Minister Vijay Goel told NDTV, "I have no comment to make in this matter. Accreditation is looked at by the Indian Olympic Association"

Chautala was the primary reason why International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended the Indian Olympic association (IOA) in 2012, since their rules don't allow charge-sheeted individuals to contest elections.

The 53 year old has a disproportionate assets case registered against him by the CBI. He is charged with holding assets worth over five times his income.

Defying the IOC, Chautala took over as the president of the Indian Olympic Association in 2012 following a controversial election process.

A year later IOA finally amended its Constitution as per directives of the IOC, kicking out Chautala from the post of president and barring him from contesting future elections.

In 2012, the erstwhile Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) was also terminated for manipulation in elections by the World Body; all this while Chautala was the president. The Indian Boxing Association remains suspended till date and Indian boxers have only been allowed to participate under the India flag provisionally.

All accreditation requests for Indian athletes, journalists and officials for the Olympics Games have to be routed through the IOA. It's noteworthy that the current IOA president is N Ramachandran, who survived a no confidence motion against him in 2015 after 50 per cent of National Sports Federations weren't in favour of him continuing as the IOA boss.

Media reports at the time had suggested that it was Chautala who convinced the other members to drop the idea of ousting the president, thereby doing Ramachandran a huge favour.