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Ashwini Akkunji, team-mates get two-year suspension

[email protected] (Agencies)
July 18, 2012

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New Delhi, July 18: The six Indian women athletes, who were caught for doping last year, lost their case in the Court of Arbitration for Sports in Lausanne, Switzerland, as it upheld the International Association of Athletics Federation's appeal to impose a two-year ban on them.

A National Anti-Doping Agency panel had handed a lenient one-year ban on the six quartermilers, including Asian Games double gold medallist Ashwini Akkunji, on the ground that they did not know the food supplement they had been provided by their coach contained prohibited substance. But the IAAF filed an appeal to the CAS against the NADA panel decision, stating that the athletes should not be given any lenient treatment and they should be banned for two years provided under the rules.

The CAS on Tuesday decided the case in favour of the IAAF and the athletes will serve a two year ban. “The IAAF's appeal has been upheld by CAS and the six Indian athletes have lost their case. The operative part is not known and it will come later,” an Athletics Federation of India source told PTI.

Besides Ashwini, the other five are 4x400M relay quartet members Sini Jose and Mandeep Kaur and three other quartermilers Priyanka Panwar, Jauna Murmu and Tiana Mary Thomas. The period of their one-year ban by the NADA panel ended last month.

The relay quartet of Akkunji, Mandeep, Sini and Manjeet Kaur had won the gold in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi and the Asian Games in China a month later.

Ashwini became the toast of the country after she also won the 400M hurdles in the Asian Games also. Experts had raised doubts over her incredible performances but the athlete always denied taking banned substances knowingly.

Manjeet, the only one among the famed quartet not to fail a dope test, ended her career after she allegedly refused to give samples to NADA officials in Patiala. Manjeet was charged with doping violation by NADA but she successfully argued that she had retired from the sport. As such, she was let off by the NADA panel.

Ashwini and her team-mates had continued to train in the hope that they would be cleared in time for them to make an attempt at Olympic qualification in the 4x400M relay. In their absence, the Indians failed to clock a good enough time to get into the top-16 teams in the world who are eligible to take part in the Olympics.

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News Network
December 5,2025

Mangaluru: In a significant step to curb online hate and intimidation, Mangaluru City Police have registered a suo motu case against multiple Instagram accounts accused of circulating alleged provocative and threatening content.

While monitoring social media activity on Tuesday, Kankanady Town PSI Anitha Nikkam identified the Instagram handle ‘team_targetttt_900’ for posting a hate message alongside images of lethal weapons. Another account, ‘team_nagara_900’, allegedly shared a threatening post targeting activist Bharath Kumdelu, tagging additional pages such as KARAVALI-OFFICIAL.

Several other accounts — including ‘immu_bhai.fan’, ‘target_boy_900’, ‘kings_of_manglore’, ‘team_target_boys.900’, ‘arshad_mangalore’, ‘target_ka19_ullal’, ‘team_target__’, ‘troll_tigersz_900’, ‘tr_group_900’, and ‘team_target_900’ — are also under scrutiny for spreading similar inflammatory material, police said.

Authorities have urged citizens, especially young social media users, to report suspicious pages and avoid engaging with groups that glorify violence or threaten individuals. Online hate can quickly escalate into real-world harm, and police stress that sharing or promoting such content can attract legal consequences.

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News Network
December 15,2025

Mangaluru police have arrested a 27-year-old NRI on his return from Saudi Arabia in connection with an Instagram post allegedly containing derogatory and provocative remarks about the Hindu religion, officials said on Monday.

The accused, Abdul Khader Nehad, a resident of Ulaibettu in Mangaluru, was working in Saudi Arabia when the post was uploaded, police said.

A suo motu case was registered at the Bajpe police station on October 11 after an allegedly offensive post circulated from the Instagram account ‘team_sdpi_2025’. Police said the content was flagged for being provocative and derogatory in nature.

During the investigation, technical analysis traced the Instagram post to Nehad, who was residing abroad at the time, a senior police officer said. Based on these findings, a Look Out Circular (LOC) was issued against him.

On December 14, Nehad arrived from Saudi Arabia at Calicut International Airport in Kerala, where he was taken into custody on arrival. Police said further investigation is underway.

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News Network
December 19,2025

Mangaluru: The Mangaluru CEN police have arrested a 23-year-old man for allegedly posting provocative and misleading content on an Instagram page named “mr_a_titude”, targeting the Bajpe police.

Mangaluru Commissioner of Police Sudheer Kumar Reddy C H identified the arrested as Abhishek M, a resident of Katipalla in Mangaluru.

A case has been registered at the Bajpe Police Station under Sections 353(1)(c), 353(2), 56, and 57 read with Section 189 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in connection with the post.

According to police, the accused uploaded a photograph of a hotel on the Instagram page and alleged that accused persons in a murder case under the Bajpe police jurisdiction were being given “royal treatment” by the police, including being served beef meals daily from the hotel.

The post further accused the police of supporting criminals, misusing their authority, and betraying public trust. Police said the content was provocative in nature and aimed at inciting public outrage against the police.

Following the post, a case was registered at the Bajpe police station, and further investigation was transferred to the CEN police station.

Police records indicate that the accused has a criminal history, with multiple cases registered against him, including murder, attempt to murder, assault, and robbery at the Surathkal Police Station, and one case at the Kaup Police Station.

The Commissioner said the accused was traced and arrested using technical evidence.

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