New Delhi: The suspension of Arjuna award recipient Joydeep Karmakar from all shooting activities in West Bengal by the state body will be “discussed at the “appropriate level”, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) said on Thursday.
The West Bengal Rifle Association’s (WBRA) move to bar Karmakar, currently a rifle coach, from activities related to shooting in the state came after the Olympian questioned selections for the 2025 National Games held in Uttarakhand early this year.
“That will be discussed at appropriate level. It (Karmakar’s letter) came yesterday. It will go the NRAI president,” said NRAI secretary Rajiv Bhatia.
Karmakar represented India in rifle prone events in various international tournaments and narrowly missed a medal at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
The WBRA said, before going ahead with its decision to suspend him, it had show caused Karmakar for an objectionable post on social networking site Facebook.
Karmakar alleged that some WBRA officials were involved in corrupt practices and the selection of the state team for the National Games was not fair.
“National Games Shooting Team is rigged! onus goes to West Bengal Rifle Association – WBRA! They are even bogged down to a few!,” he had posted on January 18.
“Corruption in a different level! West Bengal selecting Shooters who are 250th ranking or more neglecting 20th National Ranked shooter!.
“There’s no pride in selecting 200+ranking athlete in National Games by West Bengal Rifle Association – WBRA neglecting a National Rank 20th.”
The WBRA, in an official communication, issued him a show cause notice and suspended him from all shooting activities on February 12.
Now, Karmakar has requested the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) to step in the matter in the hope of a resolution.
“We have show caused him (on February 12) for the objectionable post onFacebook and based on the showcause he has been barred from any activity in the state till he gives a reply to it. He (Karmakar) has asked for some time and we are waiting for his reply. I cannot comment further on this,” said Debkumar Samanta, the secretary general at WBRA.
“This is a standard legal procedure that’s followed so that there is no injustice to anybody,” he added.
In 2015, the rifleman started an academy named JKSA (Joydeep Karmakar Shooting Academy) in Kolkata, in which hundreds of shooters receive training.
