Chargesheet against WFI chief elaborates statements of 6 wrestlers with evidence: Police sources

The charge sheet discusses each of the victim's case separately with supporting evidence in each, the sources said

New Delhi: The about 1500-page charge sheet filed against BJP MP and outgoing WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for offences of sexual harassment and stalking elaborates statements of all the six female wrestlers with supporting evidence, police sources said on Thursday.

Out of the over 200 statements of the witnesses recorded as part of the investigation, only statements of those relevant and supporting the allegations made by the victims have been mentioned in the charge sheet, they said.

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The sources also said only statements of 100 witnesses were found to be relevant to the case but among those, only statements of very few witnesses corroborated with that of the allegations made by the victims.

“All the six female complainants in the case recorded their statements in detail and we have collected supporting evidence which are in the form of call details record (available from last year), photos and videos are part of the charge sheet,” a police source said.

The charge sheet discusses each of the victim’s case separately with supporting evidence in each, the sources said.

Statements of the eyewitnesses, co-participants, tournament referees and staff are part of the charge sheet, they said, adding a supplementary charge sheet will be filed as and when more witnesses and evidence related to the case are received.

As part of the probe, Delhi Police has also written to wrestling federations of five nations seeking details in connection with the alleged incidents of sexual harassment by Singh, but their reply is awaited. Once these are received, the details will also be included in the charge sheet, the sources said.

The notices were sent seeking photos and video of the tournaments and the CCTV footage of the places where the wrestlers stayed during their matches, they said.

The government had assured the agitating wrestlers that the charge sheet in the case would be filed by June 15, following which they had suspended their stir.

In this case against Singh lodged on the basis of a complaint from six women wrestlers, the charge sheet has been filed for the offences under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment) and 354D (stalking) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The charge sheet has also been filed against Vinod Tomar, a suspended assistant secretary of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), for the offences under sections 109 (abetment of any offence, if the act abetted is committed in consequence, and where no express provision is made for its punishment), 354, 354A and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.