NEW DELHI: Following months of protests by the sport’s top figures demanding his arrest, Indian police charged the country’s wrestling federation president with sexual harassment and stalking on Thursday.
Brij Bhushan Singh, a member of parliament for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has been accused of groping female athletes and demanding sexual favors by Olympic medalists and other Indian wrestling champions, AFP said.
Some of India’s top athletes participated in a weeks-long sit-in in New Delhi, calling for the arrest of the head of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). According to a statement issued by the Delhi Police, Singh was charged with sexual harassment and stalking under the Indian Penal Code “after the completion of the investigation.”
Atul Shrivastava, the public prosecutor, said the charges had been filed. Vinod Tomar, a Singh acolyte, and WFI assistant secretary, was charged with the same offenses as well as criminal intimidation and abetment.
Singh, 66, is a politician from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh and has led the wrestling organization for more than a decade. He has often been accused of inappropriately grabbing and propositioning seven wrestlers. He has disputed the allegations, claiming that he is the victim of a “conspiracy” to force him out of parliament.
The most serious accusation carries a possible five-year prison sentence. Police said one of the charges against him, filed by a minor, had been withdrawn. On Thursday afternoon, Singh was locked up at home in a leafy New Delhi neighborhood, with a large police contingent placing barricades around his compound and barring traffic into the area. There was no update on whether he will be detained by authorities. The wrestlers at the center of the protest could not be reached for comment right away.
