International volleyball star M. Naveen Raja Jacob booked for cheating

Chennai: Indian International Volleyball player, M. Naveen Raja Jacob (28) was on Friday booked by the city police on charges of harassment and cheating, on a petition by his estranged live-in partner.The complainant, N. Priyanka (26) also a former international volleyball player from Bengaluru has in her complaint alleged that Naveen cheated her after promising marriage and later threatened her.

Naveen’s marriage has been fixed with the daughter of a Coimbatore-based police officer on July 13th. The Volleyball player, who is employed with the Indian Overseas Bank as a manager, was summoned to the T.Nagar All Women’s police station (AWPS) on Friday and let off after enquiry.“We will be enquiring his parents and others named in the complaint and also an assistant Commissioner rank police officer who allegedly threatened her,” a senior police officer said.

A sports trainer, Priyanka alleged that she was in a live-in relationship with Naveen since February 2010 and the duo used to visit each other frequently. Initially, when talks of marriage cropped up, Naveen pacified her saying that they belong to different communities and the climate in his family was not conducive for marriage.

Meanwhile, Priyanka attended the wedding of Naveen’s sister in his native Tuticorin where Naveen reportedly introduced her as his wife to his friends and relatives. However, Naveen’s parents had fixed his marriage with the daughter of an assistant commissioner, after which Priyanka wrote to the Tuticorin-Nazareth CSI diocese.

Verbal duels over phone ensued. Naveen and his family also visited Priyanka at Bengaluru on June 21 where they allegedly warned her. The following day, ACP Suresh Swaminathan too had allegedly called Priyanka and asked her to forget the issue. Priyanka approached the city police commissioner S. George with a petition after which cops at T.Nagar AWPS registered an FIR, sources said.