PUNE: A rare case of arrest of a sportsperson caught for fudging age has come to light.
Malegaon cricketer Amol Kolpe was arrested last Saturday by the Baramati City police in an age-fudging case and was on Tuesday sent to a 14-day magisterial custody by a Baramati court following the end of his three-day police custody remand. Kolpe now has the option of moving a plea for regular bail after arrest.
The case is related to a qualifying round of the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA)’s Under-19 invitation league matches held in January this year. Kolpe had submitted documents stating his date of birth as September 28, 2007. However, a subsequent inquiry indicated that other old documents exist, which mention his date of birth as February 15, 1999.
The police arrested Kolpe and booked three others on charges of cheating and forgery following a complaint by Nana Satav, a representative of the Karbhari Club, which claimed to be an aggrieved party being in the same group as Kolpe’s club. The complainant alleged that Kolpe submitted bogus documents to fudge his age.
The three others named in the FIR have approached the Baramati sessions court for an anticipatory bail relief. Their and player’s bail plea is expected to be heard on Thursday.

Inspector Sunil Mahadik of the Baramati City police told TOI, “We had verified the documents submitted by the complainant. Post-verification, we questioned the Malegaon (Nashik district) boy on the issue of hiding his real age and later arrested him. On Sunday, a magisterial court had ordered his three-day custodial remand which ended on Tuesday. Now that he has been sent to magisterial custody, he can seek a regular bail.”
Mahadik said, “We will collect all the documents related to Kolpe’s real date of birth and what the boy has submitted for the tournament he played in Baramati earlier this year. We will also explore the role of other persons in the case.”
Kolpe’s elder brother Kiran told TOI, “When Amol left for Baramati to play in a cricket tournament earlier this year, we were unaware about the standard/level of matches he would be playing or the age group he would be competing in. I have no idea.”
Complainant Satav, a former GST commissioner, told TOI, “I approached the police because of the incompetent handling of the case by the (tournament) authorities concerned. Not addressing the overage issue properly is nothing but playing with the careers of those young players who follow the regulations.”
It was Kolpe’s first year in any age group of the MCA invitation league. He played three group games before MCA made them ineligible.