WFI Sex Abuse Row: Wrestler Babita Phogat Joins Oversight Committee

The oversight committee, formed by Sports Ministry, has been carrying out a probe into allegations of sexual misconduct, harassment, intimidation and administrative lapses of WFI and its chief.

Commonwealth Games gold medallist wrestler Babita Phogat ( Image Source :ANI )

New Delhi: Commonwealth Games gold medallist wrestler Babita Phogat joined the oversight committee formed to investigate the various allegations against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, news agency PTI reported.

The oversight committee, formed by the Sports Ministry, has been carrying out a probe into the allegations of sexual misconduct, harassment, intimidation, financial irregularities and administrative lapses of the wrestling federation and its chief.

"Former wrestler Babita Phogat has been added to the panel of the Oversight Committee formed by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to undertake the day-to-day administration of the Wrestling Federation of India," the ministry said in a statement.

The allegations against the federation were levelled by prominent grapplers such as Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Ravi Dahiya.

Babita Phogat is the sixth member of the oversight panel that is being headed by legendary boxer MC Mary Kom, and includes former wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, former shuttler Trupti Murgunde, Radhica Sreeman and Rajesh Rajagopalan, ex-CEO, Target Olympic Podium Scheme.

Notably, Sports Minister Anurag Thakur had earlier this month announced the formation of the panel to investigate the charges levelled against the WFI chief and also manage the day-to-day affairs of the sports body.

The tussle between the protesting grapplers and the WFI ended after the athletes called off their protest following assurances from the government.

However, Bajrang, Vinesh, Sarita Mor and Sakshi, who staged a sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi for three days, demanding the sacking of the WFI president, had also expressed disappointment that they were not consulted before the formation of the panel.

Tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, Punia Tweeted: "We were assured that we would be consulted before the Oversight Committee was formed. It is very sad that we were not even consulted before the formation of this committee."

Olympian wrestler Sakshi Malik also tweeted, "We were assured that we would be consulted before the formation of the Oversight Committee. It is very sad that we were not consulted before the formation of this committee."