Pinki Pramanik to undergo gender test on Monday

Kolkata: Asian Games gold medallist athlete Pinki Pramanik, accused of being a male and held for alleged rape, will on Monday undergo gender determination test at a West Bengal government hospital, police said Saturday.

"The court has ordered to conduct the test by June 29. We are trying to convince the athlete to go for the medical examination. We will take the sportsperson for the test on Monday at a government hospital," Rajib Kumar, commissioner of police for Bidhannagar, in North 24-Parganas, told IANS.

Pramanik was arrested late Thursday night and remanded to 14 days' judicial custody by a court Friday after the athlete's live-in partner, a divorcee and a mother of one, filed a police complaint accusing the athlete of being a male who repeatedly "raped and tortured" her.

On the orders of the court, a medical board was formed for a medical examination which Pramanik refused twice to undergo.

Following the arrest, Pramanik was taken to a private nursing home for a medical check-up where the test reports showed that the former athlete was indeed a male.

Pramanik, however, claimed innocence and said it was a conspiracy.

She won gold in the 4x400 metres relay at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha in Qatar. She was a silver medallist at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games the same year.

Pramanik retired from athletics three years ago and is now a ticket collector with Eastern Railways. (IANS)