A local court in Uttarkashi has sentenced former Indian blind football team captain, Pankaj Rana, to 10 years in jail after the golden boot winner was found guilty of abducting and raping a minor girl in 2021. According to a TOI report, the court of district and sessions judge pronounced Rana, now 23 and currently captain of the Uttarakhand blind football team, guilty on the basis of medical reports though the girl turned hostile during trial. The doctor who had examined the girl said that the "hymen was torn and the scientific forensic lab report stated that Rana's DNA samples were matched with those from the victim's clothes and vaginal swab".
He won the golden boot at the All India Blind Football Tournament as a teenager in 2017. While sentencing on Friday, the court noted that since Rana is blind in both eyes, there must be some co-accused who helped him in abducting the girl. "But, no evidence was produced or examined," the court added. Rana, who captained the blind football team twice, had represented the country from 2015 to 2020 in international tournaments for visually-challenged players.