Goa chief under investigation for faking son's birth details

A police case has been registered against Goa Cricket Association (GCA) president Dayanand Narvekar and his family members, on charges of forging his son's birth certificate to make him eligible for the Under-15 level.

Narvekar, a former law minister, his wife Sushma, son Ganeshraj and Dr. Ravindra Chodankar have been named as accused in the First Information Report (FIR) lodged by the Mapusa police, based on former GCA executive member Shekhar Salkar's complaint. As per the complaint, Ganeshraj, who featured in the U-15 level for two years under his original name, was allowed to play for the third year by changing his name and faking a birth certificate. This was in violation of the BCCI rules that allow a player a maximum of two years at the U-15 level.

In the GCA records, Ganeshraj's birth date is recorded as September 1, 1993, while a certificate procured from the local municipal body, and approved by Dr. Chodankar's hospital, shows it to be February 28, 1993. According to the complaint, Ganeshraj played the extra year under the name Anish, while also being in possession of a third birth certificate that said he was born on February 28, 1992, allegedly to help in his school admission. Salkar has claimed that all this was done when Narvekar was in power as a cabinet minister.

This is not the first time Narvekar's name has courted controversy. In 2001, he was charge-sheeted by the Goa police in connection with a fake ticket scam during an India-Australia one-dayer in Margao.