Three-time Asian Para Games gold medallist Neeraj Yadav was found dead in Delhi on Tuesday night, with Delhi Police treating the case as a suspected suicide by poisoning. The 42-year-old F55 category athlete had been serving a four-year doping suspension that kept him out of the recent in and stripped him of two gold medals.
Neeraj Yadav was discovered unconscious beside his black Scorpio-N near Gate No. 1 of Maujpur metro station. A friend who had known him since December 2025 had travelled from Sonipat to meet him earlier that day to say she could no longer stay in contact. After he dropped her at Maujpur, she grew worried when he stopped answering calls around 9 pm. She found him lying on the road next to his car, took him to hospital, and he was declared brought dead.
Notably, the police received a call around midnight from Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital. Yadav, who lived primarily in Sonipat and ran the online Anshneer Sports Academy, is survived by his wife and their three-year-old daughter. A post-mortem is underway. Proceedings under Section 194 of the BNSS have been initiated by Jafrabad police.
Neearaj Yadav, born on 10 February 1984 in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, was diagnosed with post-polio residual paralysis at the age of seven. He played wheelchair tennis for roughly seven years before switching to para-athletics around 2015. Competing in the F55 seated field events (javelin, discus and shot put), he won the men’s javelin throw gold at the 2018 Asian Para Games in Jakarta with an Asian record of 29.84 metres. He added two more golds at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games, in discus (F54/55/56) and (F55), taking his tally to three.
In October 2023, Neeraj Yadav tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol in an out-of-competition test. The National Anti-Doping Agency issued a provisional suspension; after the report reached the World Anti-Doping Agency, the Asian Paralympic Committee stripped the two Hangzhou golds. He received a four-year ban that was due to end in early 2027. The suspension also meant he lost the associated government cash reward and a prospective Class I job. He was ineligible for selection trials for the held from 18–24 October 2026.
Fellow athletes, including Paralympic champion Sumit Antil, expressed shock. The circumstances that led to Neeraj Yadav’s death remain under investigation.
