Bajrang alleges complainants against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh getting threats, bribes to backtrack

“I don’t know how this has happened but the girls who have complained to the police are being pressured. WFI officials are taking money to their home,” Bajrang Punia said at Jantar Mantar.

From Left: Wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik speaking with media during protest against the WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Olympic bronze medallist Bajrang Punia on Tuesday alleged that two persons, including a Dronacharya Award winning coach, were trying to coerce complainants to withdraw their allegations of sexual harassment against Wrestling Federation of India president, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

“I don’t know how this has happened but the girls who have complained to the police are being pressured. WFI officials are taking money to their home,” Bajrang said at Jantar Mantar.

“There is an underage victim who is being pressured by Mahabir Bishnoi,” he said. Bishnoi is a former Greco-Roman national coach and Dronacharya Award winner.

“He goes to her house and speaks to her father to withdraw her allegations. The secretary of Haryana Wrestling Federation, Rakesh Singh, also speaks to her father and tries to put pressure on them. They have been told to try and do whatever it takes to make her take back her complaint,” Bajrang said.

“If something happens to those girls, police and government will be responsible for this.”

Calls to Bishnoi and Singh for comment went unanswered.

Bajrang and several top wrestlers have been protesting at Jantar Mantar seeking justice over allegations of sexual harassment made against the WFI president. Bajrang said they had gone to the Connaught Place Police Station last Friday to lodge the complaint but no FIR was registered.

The wrestlers then approached the Supreme Court which listed the matter to be heard on Friday.

This isn’t the first time Bishnoi has fallen foul of the wrestlers. Vinesh Phogat alleged that the former national coach of the Greco-Roman team had threatened her after Tokyo Olympics. “Mahabir coach had threatened me in Tokyo as well. He would say that (WFI president) Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh would do this or that to me,” she said.

Vinesh said despite the pressure being put on them, the protesting wrestlers would not end their agitation should an FIR be registered. “Why would we be be satisfied with an FIR? What happens with an FIR. So many FIRs are registered and the court cases go on for 20 years. You don’t get justice with just an FIR. We won’t go until full procedure of the law is carried out. We are determined to stay here until he (Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh) goes and his power ends,” she said.