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Does this seem very convincing? FN ------------------------
Police rules out foul play in footballer's death
Indo-Asian News Service
Bangalore, Dec 7 (IANS) Bangalore Police Commissioner S. Marisamy Tuesday ruled out foul play in the death of Dempo Sports Club striker Cristiano Junior during the Federation Cup final here Sunday.
"There is no foul play. Even in the complaint lodged by Dempo coach Armando Colaco with the police on Monday, there is no mention about Mohun Bagan's custodian Subrata Paul doing anything deliberately to cause Cristiano's death," Marisamy told on phone.
Rulingoutsummoning Paul for an inquiry till the final autopsy report was received from the government hospital, he said. Marisamy was convinced the goalkeeper had no role in the Brazilian striker's death on the field.
"We are not asking him (Paul) any questions right now. No one told us the goalie deliberately attacked Cristiano. Not even Dempo's coach," Marisamy said.
"The complaint points to a foul committed by Paul and not an assault or attack. Football is a body contact game and often players crash into each other. The goalkeeper's act was not an offensive one to harm the player.
"It is, however, up to the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to take action against Paul on the foul committed soon after Cristiano scored the second goal," Mariswamy pointed out.
The police chief said he did watch the video recording of the finals and perused the autopsy report submitted by doctors to conclude sudden cardiac arrest as the cause of the mercurial striker's death.
"The report says cardiac arrest was the cause of death. We will wait for the histo-pathology report of the heart to decide whether this sudden arrest was caused by drugs or sheer excitement of scoring two goals for his team," Marisamy said.
Investigations will, however, continue against the Karnataka State Football Association (KSFA) on negligence and lack of medical facilities at the venue.
"We learnt Cristiano was taken to Hosmat hospital because the association has signed a contract with the hospital for medical care," Marisamy said.
In a related development, match referee Maheswaran Balu and match commissioner M.G. Suvarna had submitted their reports on the tragic incident and the final match to All India Football Federation (AIFF) Tuesday.
Details of the reports have not been made public, pending an inquiry ordered by the AIFF president. Indo-Asian News Service
