Wrestlers slam Brij Bhushan for misleading public with baseless allegations

New Delhi: India's top wrestlers lashed out at Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for misleading the public and misdirecting the protest.

Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshee Malik said on Saturday that the allegation that the protests were an attempt to stay away from nationals was baseless.

"We were accused of not playing nationals. I just want to say that the change in rules of national (competition) he is talking about are baseless, they are false and they are trying to break us," Vinesh Phogat said at the press conference.

"This is not about nationals it is about sexual harassment. Sports is different from it. You are facing allegations you should answer those questions."

The Delhi Police filed two FIRs against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP on Friday on allegations of sexual harassment levelled by seven women wrestlers.

The first information reports (FIRs) were filed hours after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Delhi Police, told an apex court bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha that a case will be registered on Friday.

While the first FIR relates to the allegations of a minor wrestler and was registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the second was related to outraging the modesty of women.

Several wrestlers who have brought laurels for the country from international competitions have been protesting at Jantar Mantar, demanding that the government make public the findings of an oversight panel that investigated the sexual harassment charges against Singh.

The wrestlers have asserted that they will not leave the protest site until Singh is arrested. They resumed their sit-in last Sunday and demanded that the findings of the panel that probed the allegations be made public.

(With PTI inputs.)