Shillong, Apr 17: Promising Indian table tennis player Vishwa Deenadayalan of Tamil Nadu, who was on his way to Shillong to participate in the 83rd Senior National and Inter-State Championships, died in a road accident on Sunday.
Deenadayalan was 18.
He was travelling in a car along with his three teammates from Guwahati to Shillong when a 12-wheel trailer, coming from the opposite direction, ploughed through the road divider and hit the vehicle at Shangbangla and plunged into the gorge.
According to a release issued by the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI), the driver died on the spot, while Deenadayalan was declared brought dead by the doctors of Nongpoh Civil Hospital.
His teammates -- Ramesh Santosh Kumar, Abinash Prasannaji Srinivasan and Kishore Kumar -- suffered severe injuries but are currently stable.
The organisers of the championships had rushed them to the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) in Shillong for critical care.
"The team of doctors attending to them said the boys were stable," the release said.
Deenadayalan's father and two of his family members will be arriving in Guwahati tonight and his embalmed body will be flown to Chennai on Monday morning.
Deenadayalan, a promising player with several national ranking titles and international medals to his credit, was to represent India at the WTT Youth Contender at Linz, Austria, from April 27.
A product of Krishnaswamy TT Club in Anna Nagar, he had come in for praise from none other than Sharath Kamal.
Deenadayalan's transition from cadet and sub-junior to junior section was steady. He had won the cadet and sub-junior national titles also.
The B.Com student of Loyola College won the Under-19 Boys title during the Dehra Dun National Ranking Tournament this January.
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Lucknow (PTI): The Uttar Pradesh Congress on Wednesday staged a statewide protest demanding a fair and transparent inquiry into the FIR lodged against Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati and those who filed the complaint against him.
In a statement issued here, the party said memorandums addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi were submitted through district magistrates in all districts of the state.
Uttar Pradesh Congress spokesperson Manish Hindvi told PTI that the memorandums were handed over through the district administration in all 75 districts.
In the memorandum, the party alleged that Saraswati and his disciples were "unnecessarily harassed and humiliated" by police on the occasion of Amavasya and were prevented from taking a ritual bath (at the Magh Mela). It further alleged that some disciples were manhandled and taken to a police station.
The memorandum also claimed that an FIR was later registered against Saraswati, his disciple Swami Mukundanand Brahmachari and several unidentified persons in a sexual harassment case. It termed the case a "conspiracy" aimed at tarnishing the seer's reputation.
Citing Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution, the memorandum stated that these provisions guarantee religious freedom and the right of religious denominations to manage their own affairs.
It described the position of shankaracharya held by Saraswati as "one of the highest spiritual posts in Sanatan tradition" and alleged that the entire episode appeared to have been "orchestrated in a planned manner".
"We request that the background of the persons who got the FIR registered be investigated in a transparent manner by a retired high court judge and strict action be taken against them," the memorandum said.
It also sought a "fair and transparent probe" into the allegations levelled against Saraswati so that the truth could be established.
Earlier, Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai had told reporters in Varanasi after meeting Saraswati that the party stood firmly with him.
The Congress said it would continue to press for an impartial inquiry into the entire episode.
On February 21, an FIR was lodged in Prayagraj against Saraswati and his disciple Mukundanand Brahmachari on charges of sexually abusing two persons, including a minor, over the past year at a gurukul and religious congregations, including the recently concluded Magh Mela.
Days after he was booked, Saraswati had said on Monday that he would not oppose his arrest and asserted that the "fabricated story" would be exposed sooner or later.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Saraswati alleged that criminals rule in Uttar Pradesh, level allegations and influence investigations, as he denied having any contact with the two persons for whose alleged sexual abuse he has been booked.
