Supreme Court stays Karnataka HC's order to investigate age fabrication allegation against Lakshya Sen

A badminton academy operator filed a private complaint in 2022, leading to an investigation.

The Supreme Court issued a notice on the Special Leave Petition filed by Indian badminton player Lakshya Sen against the Karnataka High Court’s order for the investigation into allegations against him of forgery of a birth certificate. Bench, comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhullia and K. Vinod Chandran, has both issued notices and stayed coercive steps against Sen and other petitioners (His family), giving them some respite in the ongoing legal battles.

The next hearing will be on April 16, when the Court will further consider Sen’s challenge to the judgment of the Karnataka High Court.

Interim relief for Lakshya Sen as the Supreme Court has stayed the order passed by the Karnataka HC, which allowed investigation into the allegations of age fraud by Sen and his brother Chirag. 🏸#Badminton pic.twitter.com/k26fYiriVi

— Khel Now (@KhelNow) February 25, 2025

Earlier, the Karnataka High Court dismissed petitions filed by Olympian and 2021 badminton world championship bronze medalist Lakshya Sen, his family members, and coach U Vimal Kumar seeking to quash proceedings in an alleged birth certificate forgery case.

Justice M G Uma’s order passed on February 19 and recently made available, allowed the previously stalled investigation to proceed. The court found “sufficient materials” to warrant a full inquiry into the allegations.

“When prima facie materials are placed on record which constitute the offenses, I do not find any reason either to stall the investigation or to quash the initiation of criminal proceedings,” Justice Uma stated in the order.

The badminton academy operator, Nagaraja M.G. from Bangalore, filed a private complaint leading to the initiation of an investigation in December 2022. The complaint, supported by documents obtained via RTI applications, alleged that Vimal Kumar and their parents had manipulated the Sen brothers’ birth certificates to secure their eligibility for junior tournaments since 2010.

Police registered a case under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for cheating), and 471 (using forged documents), but the High Court’s interim stay orders stalled the investigation, which was later vacated.The Sen family dismissed these allegations as being classically ungrounded.

They pointed out that the Central Vigilance Commission resolved the matter in 2018 after accepting their birth records and finding no grounds for action. They insisted that Nagaraja file a complaint after his daughter’s admission to the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy was denied in 2020.

For the uninitiated, Lakshya Sen, 23, is long recognized as one of the top talents in India. The Almora native is a former junior world number one and has won medals at the World Championships and Commonwealth Games. In 2022, he earned the Arjuna Award, one of India’s highest sporting honors after reaching the finals of the All-England Open and playing a pivotal role in India’s historic triumph in the Thomas Cup.

His father, D.K. Sen, is also a badminton coach with the Sports Authority of India, while his brother Chirag Sen, aged 26, also plays badminton at the professional level and is currently world-ranked 78th.

For more updates, follow Khel Now on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram