Nurse's Gang-Rape: Swimming Fraternity Dismayed After Four National-Level Swimmers Arrested

Bengaluru: Officials said on March 30 that the four swimmers who have been taken into custody in connection with the Bengaluru gang-rape incident had participated in various state and national-level competitions.

All of them were in Bengaluru for training purposes.

Dev Saroha, Rajath, Shiv Rana and Yogesh Kumar were arrested by the Bengaluru police on March 29 due to their alleged involvement in gang-rape of a nurse. 

It has been found that both Rana and Rajath have represented Haryana at the national level. As per the swimming federation officials, the duo had participated in the national championships last October.

An official said that the duo were among the best swimmers and added that both of them had won medals at the state level. They were later picked for the national team after their stellar performance at the state level.

The official further went on to say that the duo had shifted to Bengaluru to continue training due to the fact that several pools across Delhi and Haryana had halted their operations during the winter. The duo were joined by Saroha and Kumar and all of them were undergoing coaching certification courses.

"There are plenty of job opportunities for certified coaches during the summer at private and public pools. So they were looking to get their coaching licences," the official informed.

According to reports, the victim was befriended by Rajath on a dating app and the two subsequently chatted on Instagram.

The complainant said that she met Rajath over dinner on the evening of March 24. She filed the complaint on March 25 where she stated that the accused were under the heavy influence of alcohol and added that all of them raped her one after the other.

The incident has flabbergasted the swimming fraternity. Their peers have revealed that the quartet was popular on the domestic circuit and had trained and competed at facilities across the country.

"They were all multiple-times national and state champions and very talented swimmers. They all started when they were about five years old. Two of them were under me during a junior Haryana state camp. They must have been 10 or 12 then. The whole swimming fraternity is shocked. They deserve to be punished," a senior Haryana state coach said.

Another former national champion, who quit the sport in 2017, said he first saw Yogesh as a five-year-old. "Yogesh was named the best swimmer (in the state-level competition) just recently. All of them were immensely talented but what they have done is revolting. I don't even want to mention their names," he said.

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