CHANDIGARH: Indian women’s Twenty20 International (T20I) captain Harmanpreet Kaur has reportedly been removed from the post of deputy superintendent of police (DSP) by Punjab Police as her graduation degree turned out to be fake.
As per media reports, the decision was taken by the Punjab home department and Kaur is likely to be demoted to the post of a constable as her qualification now gets reduced to Class XII pass. Punjab Police decided not to initiate any legal proceedings against the cricketer.
According to reports, the 29-year-old cricketer, hailing from Punjab’s Moga area, had submitted a graduation degree purportedly conferred upon her by Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut. But after verification, the submitted degree turned out to be fake. The university also denied having a student with the name of ‘Harmanpreet Kaur’.
“We have not received any official letter from Punjab Police regarding the termination of her job. This is the same degree which she submitted in the Railways. How it can be fake and forged?” Harmanpreet’s manager told ANI.
Harmanpreet, an Arjuna awardee, was earlier an employee of the Indian Railways. She had resigned from the railways job to join Punjab Police in March.
Meanwhile, Harmanpreet’s family had earlier denied the allegations. “She did her schooling from Moga and was then selected in the Indian cricket team. She completed her remaining studies from Delhi and Meerut. She was provided a job by the Indian Railways on the basis of the same documents,” Harmanpreet’s father Harminder Singh had told News18.
In a similar case in February, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Mandeep Kaur was also removed from DSP’s post after her graduation degree was found to be fake.
Harmanpreet has played two Tests for India so far, scoring 26 runs at an average of 8.66.
Her ODI career has been impressive though. The Punjab born has scored 2,196 runs from 87 ODIs at an average of 35.41, including 3 centuries and 11 fifties.
Harmanpreet, who represents Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League (BBL), has 1,616 runs in 83 T20Is under her belt. She has five half-centuries to her name at an average of 27.86.
The all-rounder, who made her international debut in 2009 in an ODI match against Pakistan, has 22 ODI and 20 T20I wickets to her name.
