Sports Ministry Asks Wrestling Federation To Stop All Ongoing Activities, Suspends Assistant Secretary
The Wrestling Federation of India’s (WFI) assistant secretary Vinod Tomar was suspended by the Ministry of Sports on Saturday as a result of the grapplers’ accusations of sexual harassment and corruption against the head of the sports organisation, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
To safeguard the efficient operation of WFI, it has decided to suspend Tomar “with immediate effect”. In addition, the ministry claimed to have ordered the WFI to halt “all ongoing activities with immediate effect,” including the Ranking Tournament in Sharan’s hometown of Gonda, Uttar Pradesh.
This comes a day after Anurag Thakur, the sports minister, announced the creation of an oversight committee to look into the allegations made against Sharan and his body by some of the greatest wrestlers in the nation, including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik, and Ravi Dahiya.Tomar’s presence will “be damaging to the growth of this high-priority discipline,” the ministry claimed in a letter that the PTI had in its hands.
The disgruntled wrestlers said that Tomar was involved in financial misconduct, received bribes from athletes, and helped him amass property worth millions of rupees. Sources claim that the ministry would reveal the members of its oversight committee on Sunday.
Before the wrestlers agreed to end their protest, the Indian Olympic Association had on Friday formed a seven-member committee of its own, headed by M C Mary Kom, to investigate the charges against Sharan.
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