Babita Phogat said, ‘I was with the wrestlers and will remain with them only’. (file)
New Delhi:
Former wrestler Babita Phogat on Tuesday claimed that fellow Monitoring Committee member Radhika Sriman snatched the final report on sexual harassment allegations against WFI chief Bribhushan Sharan Singh from her before she could read the findings in full, alleging that The sports administrator vehemently denied.
On the insistence of the protesting wrestlers, Babita, who was part of the government’s inquiry panel to investigate the allegations, alleged that she had some objections but Radhika did not let her read the full report.
“I had read only a few pages of the final report and had some objections but Radhika Sriman came and snatched the report. She said since I belong to the same family (Phogat) which is protesting, I cannot read the report ,” Babita told PTI.
“She was acting on behalf of the Speaker (Mary Kom) and told me that the Speaker has taken a decision (on signing the report).” When contacted by PTI, Radhika dismissed the allegation as “ridiculous”.
“Why would I do this? What would I gain by doing something like this. In fact she read the report 4-5 times and agreed with the findings. Every word written in the report was explained to her,” said Radhika.
“Whatever is written in the report is based on the testimony of all those who appeared in the hearing and everything is video recorded, it cannot be tampered with. If I had snatched the report from him, he would have Why was it not written?” his dissent note,” queried the veteran administrator.
“This is a baseless allegation. In fact on the eve of Holi, all the members were sitting and whatever was being prepared was explained word by word to Babita on hearing basis and she was satisfied.” Radhika also said that all the committee members were requested to assemble at the SAI headquarters on April 4 to sign the report, but Babita did not turn up.
“Even her phone was switched off that day. She said her child was unwell so we asked her to come on April 5 and sign the report. Since everyone else had come on April 4, the chairman (Mary Kom) decided that the person present can sign the report and Babita can do so later,” explained Radhika.
The government had constituted an inspection committee headed by veteran boxer MC Mary Kom to look into the allegations leveled by wrestlers including Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia.
Others in the six-member panel included former wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, former shuttler Trupti Murgunde, Radhika and former CEO of Target Olympic Podium Scheme Rajesh Rajagopalan.
The panel submitted its report on April 5 but the government is yet to make its findings public.
However, PTI has learned that the probe panel has given a clean chit to Brij Bhushan in a 5-1 verdict.
When the wrestlers return to Jantar Mantar to resume their protest and approach the Supreme Court, Vinesh states that Babita is more concerned about her political career than the cause of the wrestlers.
Asked why she did not go to the protest site like she did last time in January, Babita said, “I was with the wrestlers and will be with them. I am not under any political pressure.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)