Arrest only if court warrants: Anurag Thakur on WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's case

Vinayak Padmadeo

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New Delhi, June 8

Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Thursday reiterated that the government was committed to the assurances given to the wrestlers on charges against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Speaking to select journalists at Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range here, Thakur said the government while agreeing to wrestlers’ demands assured that the “arrest will happen if the court warrants it”.

“We are committed to whatever was discussed at the meeting yesterday. The chargesheet will be filed by June 15 and after that if the court decides to arrest him, no one can stop it,” Thakur said on the sidelines of a meet to discuss India’s preparation for the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, later this year.

Earlier on Wednesday, both sides reached an agreement after a five-hour meeting following which the wrestlers agreed to put off their protest till June 15, the deadline fixed for the Delhi Police to file a chargesheet in the case. Other points of agreement included keeping Brij Bhushan’s relatives out of the new executive body and quashing of FIRs against the wrestlers for the May 28 protest.

“There is a process under which it (cancellation of FIRs) will happen,” the minister said. He expressed confidence that they would find a way in case of other demands, including stopping Brij Bhushan’s family members from getting elected to the new body, election for which is supposed to finish before June 30.

The incumbent WFI chief’s son, Karan Bhushan, heads the Uttar Pradesh state body, while his son-in-law is the chief of the Bihar federation. His second son-in-law, Aditya Pratap Singh, is the joint secretary in the WFI.

Thakur, meanwhile, said the country’s athletes were poised to beat the mark of 70 medals, India’s highest-ever medal haul in the 1982 Asian Games, in September this year. He said the government had earmarked Rs 220 crore towards for the preparation of the games.