Centre suspends WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar, cancels tournament

The announcement follows a decision on 20th January by the Government to appoint an Oversight Committee which will take over the day-to-day activities of the WFI.

New Delhi, Jan 21: The Sports Ministry on Saturday decided to suspend all activities of Wrestling Federation of India's (WFI) until Oversight Committee is formally appointed and takes over the day-to-day activities of WFI.

This includes the suspension of ongoing ranking competition and return of entry fees taken from participants for any ongoing activities.

The announcement follows a decision on 20th January by the Government to appoint an Oversight Committee which will take over the day-to-day activities of the WFI.

In addition, the Assistant Secretary, WFI, Shri Vinod Tomar, has also been suspended with immediate effect.

The ministry said it has also directed the WFI to suspend "all ongoing activities with immediate effect", including the Ranking Tournament in Gonda, UP, Sharan's stronghold.

This comes a day after Sports Minister Anurag Thakur announced the formation of an oversight committee to probe the charges levelled by some of the country's top wrestlers, including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Ravi Dahiya, against Sharan and his body.

Regarding Tomar, the ministry said in a letter, which is in possession of the PTI, that his presence will be "detrimental to the development of this high-priority discipline".

"The Ministry has taken note of the reports about the functioning of the WFI, including the role of Shri Vinod Tomar and, has the reasons to believe that his continued presence will be detrimental to the development of this high-priority discipline," the ministry said in the letter.

The aggrieved wrestlers had alleged that Tomar took bribes from athletes and was involved in financial corruption, helping him to build property worth crores.

The ministry is expected to announce the names of its oversight committee members on Sunday. In a press release, 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".

It added, "In view of the direction to suspend all activities immediately, the Sports Ministry has asked WFI to also cancel the ongoing Ranking Tournament in Gonda, UP."

In this regard, the ministry has also asked the WFI to return the entry fees charged to participants for the ongoing event. The oversight committee of the ministry will have the powers to take all decisions on matters concerning Indian wrestling while also overseeing the day-to-day affairs of the federation.

WFI rejects sexual harassment allegations as motivated

Earlier in the day, the WFI had rejected all the allegations, including that of sexual harassment against its president, and claimed that the wrestlers' protest was motivated by a "hidden agenda to dislodge the current management".

The WFI denied all the charges in its response to the government's notice and asserted that "there is no scope for arbitrariness and mismanagement " in the federation.

The ministry had sought an explanation from WFI after the country's top wrestlers sat on a dharna and alleged that the federation chief sexually harassed women wrestlers and acts like a "dictator".

The Indian Olympic Association had on Friday formed a seven-member committee of its own, headed by M C Mary Kom, to investigate the charges against Sharan.