Former India women’s hockey team captain Asunta Lakra has challenged the maintainability of the ethics proceedings initiated against her by Hockey India, alleging procedural irregularities and questioning the jurisdiction of the Ethics Committee. In a nine page preliminary reply sent to the chairman of Hockey India’s Ethics Committee, Justice (Retd) Raghvendra Kumar, Lakra denied all allegations made in complaints filed by former international Albela Rani Toppo, describing them as “false, baseless, malicious, motivated and defamatory.” “I deny each and every allegation, insinuation and imputation levelled against me in the said complaints, whether express or implied, as if the same were set out herein separately and traversed seriatim. The allegations are false, baseless, malicious, motivated, defamatory and are a complete distortion of facts,” she said in her reply, which is also copied to HI president and general secretary. Last month, Lakra had been served a show cause notice by the federation’s Ethics Committee on a complaint filed against her by Albela Rani Toppo, also from Jharkhand. This development came a day after the Sports Ministry had …