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Wrestling body office moved out of BJP MP Brij Bhushan's residence
The wrestling body is in the process of shifting its operations from Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's official residence to a rented space in West Delhi's Hari Nagar
The suspended Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has moved its office from former president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's residence on Ashoka Road in Janpath to Hari Nagar in West Delhi. The development comes within a week of sports ministry suspending the federation over "blatant disregard for the established legal and procedural norms" while violating both the WFI's constitution and the National Sports Development Code.
Brij Bhushan, the erstwhile WFI president, is a five-time Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Uttar Pradesh's Kaiserganj and he moved into the sprawling Ashoka Road residence in 2014. Soon after the allotment, Singh, currently facing charges of sexual harassment from six female wrestlers, moved wrestling administration to his bunglow.
One of the FIRs filed by a complainant mentions an alleged incident of harassment having taken place in the WFI office. In June, Delhi Police had taken a complainant to WFI office to recreate the sequence of events.
The sports ministry, while suspending WFI on Sunday, had noted, "The business of the federation is being run from the premises controlled by former office bearers which is also the alleged premises wherein sexual harassment of the players have been alleged."
"Newly elected body appears to be in complete control of former office bearers in complete disregard to the Sports Code," it said.
Confirming the development, newly-elected WFI president Sanjay Singh said, "Yes, we are in the process of shifting the WFI office. One of sports ministry's contention was the fact that wrestling is still being run from the site of an alleged sexual harassment, so we thought of addressing it."
"We were on the lookout for some office spaces over the past few days. While the earlier office was in the centre of the capital and in close proximity to major stadiums, the new address is quite far. But this had to be done to restore WFI's image," Singh added.
The WFI, it has been learnt, scouted for office space in IG Stadium, JLN Stadium, and on Barakhamba Road but the steep rental prices forced their decision to go to West Delhi. The federation will pay approximately ₹18 lakh a year for the new office.
"Barring the argument of office address, we don't agree with other arguments listed by the ministry. As I have been saying, I would like to clear the air with the government as soon as possible. If nothing works out, I'll go to court," he added.
For over two decades, WFI was based in IG Stadium before moving to NDMC Building in 2008 when the stadium went under renovation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. In 2011, WFI moved to a rented place in Rajinder Nagar before moving to Brij Bhushan's residence in 2014.
"The administrative staff has already moved to the new address and within a week, we'll be able to shift there completely," a WFI official said.
The change of address, however, will mean little as WFI is currently under suspension from the sports ministry and its daily affairs are being run by a three-member ad hoc committee formed on Wednesday by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). The committee comprises of Wushu Association of India president Bhupender Singh Bajwa, 1980 Moscow Olympics hockey gold medallist MM Somaya and former badminton international Manjusha Kanwar.
Sanjay has written to IOA and International Olympic Committee (IOC) expressing his displeasure over the panel. "I have argued against the ad hoc committee because I view it as an infringement on WFI's autonomy. Ministry's observations over alleged violations of WFI constitution and sports code can be discussed with them," he said.
The ad hoc committee, meanwhile, has already met online and dates of senior, under-15, and under-20 Nationals are expected to be announced soon.
