A day after the top Indian wrestlers threatened to discard their medals in river Ganga at Haridwar, Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Wednesday said that the grapplers should wait for Delhi Police to conclude their investigation into the allegations against the outgoing Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Speaking to reporters, Thakur said, “I urge the wrestlers to be patient till the outcome of the investigation. They (wrestlers) should not take any steps that may cause harm to the sport or the aspiring wrestlers. We all are in favour of the sport and sportspersons."
His remarks come a day after dramatic events unfolded in Haridwar where protesting wrestlers, including Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat reached to discard all their medals in Ganga but after the intervention of Khap and farmer leaders, they agreed to put the immersion on hold for five days.
The wrestlers are demanding the arrest of Singh who is accused of sexually harassing several women grapplers.
Meanwhile, addressing a rally the WFI chief said that he is ready to be hanged if proved guilty.
“If a single allegation against me is proven, I will hang myself. If you (wrestlers) have any evidence, present it to the Court and I am ready to accept any punishment," Singh added.
The United World Wrestling (UWW) on Tuesday condemned the detention of India’s top wrestlers during their protest in Jantar Mantar and threatened to suspend the national federation WFI if it fails to hold its election within the stipulated time.
The world body said it has been keeping an eye on the protest by the wrestlers against the outgoing Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for allegedly sexually harassing several women.
“For several months, United World Wrestling has followed with great concern the situation in India where wrestlers are protesting over allegations of abuse and harassment by the President of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI)," UWW said in a statement.
“It has taken due note that the WFI President has been put aside at an early stage and is currently not in charge." Unprecedented scenes of police dragging Olympic and world championships medallists, including Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sangeeta Phogat, were witnessed when the wrestlers and their supporters breached the security cordon during their march towards the new Parliament building for the planned women’s ‘Mahapanchayat’ on Sunday
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