IMAGE: Thakur, along with wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Babita Phogat, addresses a joint-press conference following the wrestlers’ protest against the Wrestling Federation of India and its chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, at his residence, in New Delhi on Friday. Photograph: ANI
The Wrestling Federation of India’s emergency general council meeting, scheduled for Sunday in Ayodhya, was called off after the Sports Ministry directed it to suspend all ongoing activities following allegations against the sports body and its president.
On Saturday, the ministry said it asked the WFI to suspend “all ongoing activities with immediate effect”, including the Ranking Tournament in Gonda, UP, the federation president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s stronghold.
Sharan has been accused of sexually harassing women wrestlers and working like a dictator by some of the country’s top wrestlers, including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Ravi Dahiya.
The ministry also suspended WFI’s assistant secretary Vinod Tomar, a fallout of the grapplers’ allegations of sexual harassment and corruption against the sports body’s chief, on Saturday.
It decided to suspend Tomar, “with immediate effect, to ensure proper functioning of WFI”.
On Friday, Sharan’s son, Prateek, had said that his father would issue a statement on the allegations against him after the sports body’s meeting.
While the ministry has directed Sharan to stay away from the day-to-day affairs of the WFI, he was present during the wrestling event in Nandini Nagar on Saturday.
On Friday, Sports Minister Anurag Thakur had announced the formation of an oversight committee to probe the charges levelled by the top wrestlers against Sharan and his body.
The ministry is expected to announce the names of its oversight committee members on Sunday.
In a press release on Saturday, the ministry said it “has communicated to the Wrestling Federation of India on Saturday that in view of the Government’s decision to appoint an Oversight Committee to investigate the various allegations raised by athletes against the Federation, WFI will suspend all ongoing activities with immediate effect, unless the Oversight Committee is formally appointed and takes over the day to day functioning of WFI”.
