Delhi Police takes wrestler complainant to WFI office, charge sheet likely next week

Delhi Police on Friday afternoon took one female wrestler out of the six adult complainants who had jointly lodged an FIR of sexual assault against former wrestling federation of India (WFI) chief and the BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh to the WFI office at Ashoka Road to recreating the sequence of events detailed in her complaint, according to officers aware of the matter.

Police said that the charge sheet in the case was likely to be filed next week.

“Creation of sequence of events is a vital part of police investigation, especially in the cases related to alleged sexual harassment. The woman wrestler was accompanied by women constables. At about 1.30pm, she reached the federation’s office and spent 35 minutes there in recreation of the sequence of events as per places her complaint. The police will later match the recreated sequence with the details mentioned in her complaint,” one of the officers said above said, asking not to be named.

The officer added said that police have almost completed the investigation of the case. “We have got all the vital digital evidences collected in the case examined from the forensic laboratories. This will help us in filing the charge-sheet. The forensic details of those evidences are with the special investigation team (SIT), constituted in this case and it can’t be shared with anyone till the investigation is completed,” he said.

The officer further said that a total of 216 people have been questioned so far in connection with the case lodged against Singh. “We have recorded their statements and also collected the evidences corroborating their statements. The investigation is in the completion stage and charge sheet will be submitted any day in the next week,” the officer added.

After the directions of the Supreme Court, the Delhi Police on April 28 lodged two FIRs against Singh, in which seven top female wrestlers of the country – including a minor, had lodged complaints of alleged sexual harassment against Singh.

The 66-year-old is named in two FIRs, one filed by a 17-year-old girl and the other by six adults, all of who have detailed years of abuse and alleged that Singh offered to buy a wrestler supplements if she gave in to his sexual advances, called a wrestler to his bed and hugged her, grabbed a minor girl’s breasts, slid his hand down a woman’s shirt and goaded wrestlers to spend time alone with him during most tournaments.

According to one of the complainants, most women wrestlers would avoid leaving their rooms alone during tournaments and would largely stick together to keep the BJP MP’s advances at bay.

In the FIR registered on the minor girl’s complaint, her father alleges that Singh forcibly pulled his daughter towards him, pressed her shoulder very hard and intentionally slipped his hand under her shoulder. She was very disturbed and gradually her health also suffered. He has said this week that not every statement he made to Delhi Police was true and that he was angry over his daughter missing out on selection. He also said on Wednesday that his daughter was not sexually harassed but felt uncomfortable by Singh’s attention. He said he and his daughter have recorded fresh statements before the magistrate in Delhi.

Brij Bhushan, 66, BJP MP from Kaiserganj in Uttar Pradesh, was WFI president from 2013 until March, when his third four-year term ended. He is ineligible to contest for a fresh term as per the government’s Sports Code. Following the sexual harassment allegations and sit-in at Jantar Mantar by the top wrestlers, the union sports ministry suspended WFI and asked the Indian Olympic Association to appoint an ad hoc panel to run the sport. Singh has denied any wrongdoing.

After the protesting wrestlers met union home minister Amit Shah, and union sports minister Anurag Thakur, the Delhi Police investigation has picked up. Thakur announced after the Wednesday meeting that the charge-sheet would be filed by June 15. Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, who led the delegation that met Thakur, said they have suspended the protest till then.

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