WFI cancels general council meeting after Centre's order to suspend activities

The emergency general council meeting of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), scheduled for Sunday (January 22) at Ayodhya, was cancelled after the Sports Ministry asked it to suspend all ongoing activities owing to the various allegations against the sports body and its president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

The ministry on Saturday (January 21) said it has asked the WFI to suspend “all ongoing activities with immediate effect”, including the Ranking Tournament in Gonda, UP, Singh’s stronghold.

Also read: Wrestlers’ protest: Centre puts WFI events on hold, suspends additional secretary

The WFI chief has been accused of sexually harassing women wrestlers and working like a dictator by some of the country’s top wrestlers, including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Ravi Dahiya.

The ministry has also suspended WFI’s assistant secretary Vinod Tomar “to ensure proper functioning of WFI”.

On Friday, Singh’s son Prateek had said that his father would issue a statement on the allegations against him after the sports body’s meeting.

Also read: All you need to know about WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh

While the ministry has directed Singh to stay away from the day-to-day affairs of the WFI, he was present during the wrestling event in Nandini Nagar on Saturday.

Also on Friday, Sports Minister Anurag Thakur had announced the formation of an oversight committee to probe the charges levelled by the top wrestlers against Singh and his body.

The ministry is expected to announce the names of its oversight committee members on Sunday.

Also read: Explained: Why India’s champion wrestlers are up in arms against WFI

In a press release on Saturday, the ministry said it “has communicated to the Wrestling Federation of India on Saturday that in view of the Government’s decision to appoint an Oversight Committee to investigate the various allegations raised by athletes against the Federation, WFI will suspend all ongoing activities with immediate effect, unless the Oversight Committee is formally appointed and takes over the day to day functioning of WFI”.

(With inputs from agencies)