Neeraj Yadav death: Friend says she met para-athlete hours before he was found next to SUV

Neeraj Yadav (Image credit: Agencies) NEW DELHI: Neeraj Yadav, a 42-year-old three-time Asian Para Games gold medalist, was found dead next to his SUV near Maujpur Metro station in northeast Delhi on Monday evening in a suspected suicide. Yadav, who hailed from UP, ran the Anshneer Sports Academy in Haryana’s Sonipat. He is survived by his wife and three-year-old daughter.The police received information from the GTB Hospital at around 12:08 on Tuesday that a person was brought to its emergency department, who was pronounced dead by the attending doctors.“The team has reached Rajiv Gandhi Hospital where GTB Hospital Emergency Services are currently operating and the body has already been shifted to GTB Hospital Mortuary,” the officer said.During investigation, the woman who brought Yadav to the hospital told the police that she had been friends with him since December 2025. According to her statement, she went to Sonipat on October 27 to meet Yadav and told him that she could no longer stay in touch with him. She told the police that Yadav later dropped her at Maujpur in his SUV.When the woman returned to the area near Gate No. 1 of the Maujpur Metro Station to check on him around 9 pm, she found him lying on the road next to his vehicle and rushed him to the hospital.The Jafrabad police station has initiated proceedings under Section 194 of the BNSS, which deals with police investigations and reports in cases of suicide and other unnatural deaths. “We have not found any suicide note or video,” the officer said.Speaking to reporters, Yadav’s relative said, “He fought, battled through difficulties and continued to play. I find it hard to believe that he could take such an extreme step.”He also said he was not aware of the woman accompanying Yadav before his death and demanded that her role be investigated.Despite being diagnosed with residual paralysis from polio at the age of seven, Yadav continued his sporting ambitions, playing wheelchair tennis from 2005 to 2012 before switching to para-athletics. His breakthrough came at the 2015 Delhi State Athletics Meet where he won gold medals in shot put, javelin and discus.Yadav made his mark on the international scene at the 2018 Asian Para Games in Jakarta when he won gold in the men’s F55 javelin with an Asian record of 29.84 metres. He subsequently won two gold medals at the 2023 Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, winning the javelin and discus events, taking his career to three Asian Para Games titles.However, his career was overshadowed by the anti-doping scandal. He was provisionally suspended by the National Anti-Doping Agency after an out-of-competition sample taken in Bengaluru in 2023 tested positive for stanozolol, an anabolic steroid. He requested DNA testing of his sample through the anti-doping disciplinary process. He was later banned for four years.India’s head para-athletics coach S Satyanarayana suggested that Yadav may have been in emotional distress after missing the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Para Games due to a doping ban. “Medals at the Asian Para Games can bring substantial government cash awards. But his suspension has not ended and he has not been able to compete. It is possible that it has affected him deeply,” he said.