The sidelined WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on Tuesday, February 28, appeared before the government-appointed oversight committee, which is investigating into sexual abuse allegations against him, and outrightly rejected all the charges. The Committee, led by legendary boxer MC Mary Kom, was formed on January 23 to investigate into the claims made by country's top wrestlers that Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) boss Brij Bhushan has sexually harassed several women wrestlers, intimidates the athletes and run the sport body in an autocratic manner.
Brij Bhushan arrived with his 20-odd supporters for the meeting which went on for nearly three hours. "Brij Bhushan appeared before the committee today. He straightaway denied all the allegations. He said he never did anything wrong," a sports ministry source told PTI. Brij Bhushan, however, evaded the waiting media at the SAI headquarters here, saying the investigation is still on and he won't like to make any comment at this point of time.
The allegations were levelled by prominent grapplers such as Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Ravi Dahiya. The wrestlers have already deposed before the committee. In January, the country's top wrestlers had staged a three-day sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar, demanding that Brij Bhushan be removed and WFI be disbanded.
The BJP MP was later asked to step aside till the completion of the probe into his alleged misconduct. The Mary Kom-led committee has former wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, former shuttler Trupti Murgunde, SAI member Radhica Sreeman and Rajesh Rajagopalan, ex-CEO, Target Olympic Podium Scheme and CWG gold medallist Babita Phogat as its members.
The wrestlers have also alleged that one member of the committee, apparently 2012 London Olympic bronze medallist Dutt, is leaking sensitive information related to the probe with media. They feel that Dutt is siding with the WFI boss.
India lost the hosting rights of the Asian Championship after wrestlers submitted a written complaint to UWW, the world governing body of the game, about the alleged misconduct of the WFI chief. The event will now be hosted in Astana in April.