New Delhi: Even as the Amateur Athletic Federation of India (AAFI) gave a clean chit to middle-distance runner Sunit Rani after its internal probe, the government on Thursday instituted a high-level committee to inquire into the doping scandal.

It has asked the committee, headed by former Sports Secretary S S Sharma, to submit its report within three months. The decision to set up the committee was taken by the Sports Ministry in view of the "wide ranging concern" over the issue.

The inquiry committee will also include among others Prof Y K Gupta, Department of Pharmacology in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, an official press release said on Thursday.

Sunita Rani was stripped of her gold and bronze medals after she tested positive for banned substance nandrolone during the Busan Asian Games but has vehemently denied having taken any performance-enhancing drugs.

The committee, constituted almost a month after the doping fiasco broke out, will go into the role of the AAFI, Sports Authority of India (SAI), manager of the team and coaches.

The committee will suggest measures which could have been taken to avoid such a situation, ascribe responsibility wherever possible and recommend measures to prevent recurrence of such instances.

The constitution of a government committee, barely three days after the middle distance runner was given a clean chit by the AAFI , has given a new twist to the doping controversy.

During its process on inquiry, the committee may consult experts in sports medicine or any other related field and subsequently recommend measures for prevention of doping in sports.

The AAFI had absolved Sunita Rani of doping charges on Monday on the basis of the report by its one-man Sushil Salwan inquiry committee and decided to take up the matter with the world athletic body to seek justice for the athlete.

The AAFI has also decided to challenge the reports of the Asian Games doping laboratory since there were "major discrepancies" in the test results and was prepared to send the athlete's urine samples to any other IOC-accredited lab to prove her innocence.

Salwan in his 200-page report submitted to AAFI last week ruled that "it would be unfair to hold Sunita Rani guilty at this stage" and had therefore recommended the AAFI to challenge the dope results of the Asian Games.

Salwan had questioned 19 people, including Sunita Rani, her coach Renu Kohli, Dr Jawaharlal Jain, SAI and AAFI officials, during the investigations and believed that there was not enough ground to rule the athlete guilty. He had also found "discrepancies and irregularities" in the doping procedures followed at the Asian Games.

PTI