The development comes after a meeting was held with Home Minister Amit Shah over Brij Bhushan’s arrest. The development comes after a meeting was held with Home Minister Amit Shah over Brij Bhushan’s arrest. The development comes after a meeting was held with Home Minister Amit Shah over Brij Bhushan’s arrest. Sakshi Malik on Monday denied withdawing from the ongoing wrestlers' protest against ex-WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. However, she has joined back her position in the Northern Railway.
The development comes two days after the wrestlers met Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence. The meeting was held late on Saturday as the wrestlers raised their demand for WFI chief Brij Bhushan’s arrest.
Correction: An earlier version of the story had said that Sakshi has withdrawn from the wrestlers protest. Sakshi Malik in a tweet clarified that she has not withdrawn from the protest but has merely reported back to her government job. The story has been updated to reflect the clarification.
Satyawrat Kadian, the husband of ace grappler Sakshi Malik, said the wrestlers’ meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah held on Saturday was inconclusive, as they "did not get the reaction they wanted from the Home Minister".
The meeting with the Home Minister was held days after the country's top wrestlers, including Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, reached Har ki Pauri to immerse their medals in the Ganga river as part of the protest against the former WFI chief. However, the protesting wrestlers relented after khap and farmer leaders sought five days' time to address their grievances.
Sakshi, bronze medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics, had said in a statement on her Twitter handle that the wrestlers will go to Haridwar to immerse the medals. "These medals are our life and soul. We are going to immerse them in the Ganges because she is Maa Ganga. After that, there is no point of living, so we will sit on a hunger strike until death at India Gate," she had said.
It must be noted that Singh is accused of sexually harassing several female grapplers, including a minor.
The Delhi Police on April 28 had registered two FIRs against the outgoing Wrestling Federation of India chief Singh at the Connaught Place police station, including one on the basis of a complaint from the father of a minor wrestler invoking the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act that entails a prison term of up to seven years on conviction.
The FIRs registered following a Supreme Court order have charged him under various Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections, including assaulting a woman to outrage her modesty (section 354), sexual harassment (354A) and stalking (354D), that are punishable with jail terms of two-three years.
Some of the complainants also alleged that Singh made advances to seek "sexual favours", promising to help them in their careers.
Singh has denied all the charges and said he will hang himself even if a single allegation is proved against him.
(With PTI inputs)