Mary Kom-Headed Panel To Run WFI Affairs, Probe Sex Abuse Charge Against Brij Bhushan

Jabalpur: Boxing legend MC Mary Kom will head a five-member oversight committee to run day-to-day affairs of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and supervise the investigation into sexual harassment charges against its president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

With BJP Lok Sabha MP Brij Bhushan having been asked to step down as the federation’s head while the probe is underway, the committee will run WFI for a month.

Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, who made the announcement on Monday, said the other members on the panel are Olympic medallist wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, former badminton international and Mission Olympic Cell member Trupti Murgunde, ex-TOPS CEO Rajagopalan and former SAI executive director of teams Radhika Sreeman.

“Oversight Committee has been formed today. Mary Kom will head the Oversight Committee. For the coming month, the committee will investigate the allegations made by the wrestlers,” Thakur said in Jabalpur, ANI reported.

Leading wrestlers – including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Ravi Dahiya — staged a dharna at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar last week after Vinesh alleged that women wrestlers have been sexually harassed at national camps by coaches as well as Brij Bhushan.

WFI official Vinod Tomar has been suspended and all official activities of the federation put on hold till wrestlers’ claims are investigated.