CRPF constable accuses Khajan Singh of rape, chief sports officer dismisses charge

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka), Santosh Kumar Meena, said, "As per the complaint received, we have registered a case and an investigation is underway."

Allegations of sexual harassment have rocked the CRPF with a 30-year-old woman wrestler of the force accusing its chief sports officer, a Deputy Inspector General, and coach of sexually assaulting her for years, prompting Delhi Police to register a case.

The wrestler, who had won a bronze medal in an international event, also accused Chief Sports Officer Khajan Singh and coach Surjit Singh of running a "sex scandal" in the force with the help of "many (woman) accomplices" who were earlier their victims.

Khajan Singh, who won a silver medal at the 1986 Seoul Asian Games in the 200-metre butterfly event, has denied the allegations against him while the coach was unavailable for comments. Khajan Singh's was the first medal in swimming in Asian Games, which started in 1951.

The complainant claimed that she had earlier written to the then Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, who is presently the Cabinet Secretary, and the then CRPF Director General Rajeev Bhatnagar complaining about the harassment of the duo but no action was taken. She claimed she did not mention rape in her complaint to the CRPF fearing "shame" but now wants to press charges against them in her police complaint.

In serious allegations, she also claimed several CRPF officials, including a previous head of the Internal Complaints Committee probing sexual harassment cases at workplace, pressurised her to withdraw complaints. She even wrote letters to withdraw it this June but Inspector General (Srinagar) Charu Sinha assured her justice and she decided to go ahead with her complaints.

She said she was forced to withdraw a complaint she filed with the CRPF against the duo in 2014 following pressure. She claimed she approached police as she received fresh threats to withdraw her complaint.

Police registered the FIR on December 3 after it received the complaint on November 26. CRPF spokesperson Moses Dhinakaran said the CRPF has taken "serious note" of the complaint and has already constituted an Internal Complaint Committee headed by an Inspector General level officer to conduct an enquiry".

The complainant, who had joined the CRPF in 2010, claimed that she was not the lone victim of the duo. She said she joined the central wrestling team of the CRPF in 2012 and sexual harassment started immediately.

Taking advantage of being the coach, she claimed, Surjit Singh touched women wrestlers, asked them to meet him individually and used to send lewd messages, including seeking nude photos. She also accused him of forcing them to give sexual favours to Khagan Singh.

"They sexually harass female constables and later use them as their accomplice. They secretly took my nude photos while having bath. I was blackmailed...and threatened that if I do not talk to them they would circulate my photos and make it viral on the internet," the FIR quoted the complainant as saying. She also accused them of sending her their nude photos.

She also claimed that she used to record the calls from the duo and once they came to know about it, they allegedly got her phone stolen two-three times by five women constables who were their accomplices. Her personal diary in which she used to record her life was also stolen in the later years.

The victim also lodged a complaint to the Inspector General about sexual harassment in March 2014 but later was "forced" to withdraw it later by threatening her with dismissing her from the job. In October 2014 when she was participating in a wrestling competition, she alleged that the coach started blackmailing her by showing her nude photographs and took her to a flat.

She claimed that both Khagan Singh and Surjit Singh raped her in a south Delhi flat first and the ordeal continued for three years. She also alleged that the duo also asked to extend sexual favours to senior officers in the CRPF who was present in the Vasant Kunj flat.

After returning from an international event in 2017, she said she stopped acceding to their demands but it ended up in show cause notices being issued to her. She claimed they used one of the junior officers to send her the message to fall in line.

She also deposed before an Internal Complaints Committee as a witness in a complaint filed by another woman personnel during which she again pointed fingers at the two officers. However, she claimed, her statement was not recorded while the Internal Complaints Committee head persuaded her to withdraw the complaint when both were posted in a West Bengal unit.

The victim also faced trouble in a sports camp in Neemach in 2018 when she wanted a duty change. Surjit Singh and another personnel asked her to meet Khagan Singh and when she objected, she was manhandled. The next day also, she was assaulted when she raised the issue.

She claimed she once again filed a complaint but no action was taken besides breaking her phone.

However, an enquiry was conducted against her and she was transferred. The Internal Complaints Committee proceedings on her 2018 complaint have started now but the duo have threatened her once again, she alleged.

She initially wrote to the Inspector General (Srinagar) Charu Sinha seeking to withdraw her complaint but the latter assured her of justice and she decided to go ahead with her complaint.

However, she claimed, she received threatening calls from Khagan Singh October this year too.