New Delhi, june 6
Written affidavits filed by two women wrestlers in their sexual harassment complaint against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh have some deviations from their allegations in the FIRs filed with the Delhi Police, say sources in the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
It may be noted that only two of the seven complainants filed affidavits.
There are some variations in the affidavits and FIRs of at least two wrestlers. Wrestler 1, in the affidavit to the IOA, said that on October 15, 2017, she was called to the office of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) — it’s the official residence of Brij Bhushan in Delhi — to explain to a disciplinary committee why she missed an international tournament.
As per her affidavit, WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar asked her to go into Brij Bhushan’s office alone. After scolding her for a tweet against the federation, Brij Bhushan allegedly sat next to her. “…as he sat next to me his tone changed as he began to reassure me that no harm would come to me. While reassuring me, he kept touching me inappropriately on my palms, knees, thighs and shoulders…,” the complainant said in the affidavit submitted to IOA’s probe panel.
Incidentally, October 15, 2017, was a Sunday, and the WFI office is closed on Sunday.
In the FIR, the same complainant has cited October 16, 2017, as the date of the incident.
In another case, the same complainant in her affidavit relates an incident in Turkey during an Olympics qualifying tournament in 2015. She said in the affidavit that Brij Bhushan “moved his hand upwards to my chest and moved it down 3-4 times. Upon noticing my shock, he said he was checking my breathing…”
In the FIR, the wrestler does not mention Turkey but alleges that this incident happened in Mongolia in 2016.
In another mismatch, she claims that Tomar humiliated and mentally harassed her in front of several people at the WFI office in New Delhi, just before the 2022 Commonwealth Games trials. “I was put down publicly over my failure to secure a position on the podium at the Olympics,” she submitted. However, in the FIR, she alleges that the incident happened at Tomar’s residence in Paschim Vihar, Delhi.
