The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: Even as the trial in the sexual harassment case against former MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh goes on in a Delhi court, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) office functioning from his long-time home at 21, Ashoka Road in New Delhi.
The WFI has already vacated a one-room premise in Hari Nagar in which its office was shifted after the sports ministry took action in 2023, suspending the WFI and citing that “premises controlled by former officer bearers” was one of the reasons for their action, reported The Indian Express on Saturday (January 25).
While WFI Treasurer S P Deshwal said that “the office is still in Hari Nagar”, when the newspaper visited the address in Hari Nagar, it was told that WFI had vacated the place.
The Express reported that veteran office hands of the WFI were working in the room same room at former MP Singh’s house. This is the same place from where the WFI had been working for over a decade when Singh was the president.
Following the allegations against him, the BJP had decided to field Singh’s son Karan Bhushan Singh from the former’s Lok Sabha Constituency Kaiserganj in Uttar Pradesh, with Karan Bhushan subsequently winning the seat.
According to a Delhi Police chargesheet, two wrestlers had alleged that incidents of inappropriate touch and groping had taken place at the WFI office located at Singh’s official MP residence at 21, Ashoka Road, the same house where staff members of the WFI were seen working, reported Indian Express.
“We worked from Hari Nagar for a few months but shifted back here after that,” a WFI office staff said when asked about the move.
When asked why the WFI had moved back to his address, Singh said he “didn’t want to discuss wrestling.”
Police in Delhi filed their chargesheet in the case in June 2023 after intervention from the Supreme Court and following protests led by prominent wrestlers Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat on the capital’s streets.
Singh stepped down as WFI chief after the allegations against him were made. Sanjay Singh, a man considered to be a close associate of Brij Bhushan’s, was elected WFI chief in late 2023, but the Union sports ministry suspended the body soon afterwards.