In chargesheet against Sandeep Singh, Chandigarh police say minister wasn’t ‘honest’ during probe, relationship with victim ‘beyond professional interaction’

The police examined 49 witnesses, including former director of sports Pankaj Nain, during their probe and subjected the phones of both Singh and the victim to forensic examination at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL). They have claimed Singh had deleted certain calls made from his phone to that of the victim.

The chargesheet also mentioned Nain, an IPS officer of the Haryana cadre, also told them that “the accused (Sandeep Singh) was taking an unusual interest in the victim”.

The police have also said the victim was able to identify the bedroom, side room, bathroom, and all the connecting passageways in the official residence of Sandeep Singh. They added this shows the victim had visited the said rooms even though Singh had claimed she only came to the main office cabin in his house.

The chargesheet, which was filed in the court on August 26, states, “The CFSL reports regarding the mobile phones of the victim indicate that the accused and victim were in regular touch with each other and their relationship was beyond professional interaction. However, the accused during his examination completely denied having any personal relations with her, contrary to the evidence gathered. Some of the witnesses have also mentioned that there was a close relationship between the minister and the victim”.

According to the chargesheet, Instagram chats between Gurjinder, a sportsperson and a close friend of Sandeep Singh, and the victim show she had told the minister about her chats with Gurjinder.

“An examination of Gurjinder reveals that after he came to know about this, the accused had asked him to stop chatting with the victim, which again hints towards a relationship or a feeling beyond friendship between the accused and the victim, which the accused had denied. Moreover, the accused has lied about even knowing that the screenshots of his chat were sent to him by the victim, which shows that he is not being honest during the investigation”.

It added, “On December 28, 2022, the victim went to the accused’s residence to request for transfer back to Panchkula which the accused initially refused to do. But when she attempted to approach the Home Minister, Haryana, on the same day, the accused went beyond his way and personally called her to inform her that she would get a posting of her desire and told her not to panic”.

“He had earlier attempted to contact her through Gurjinder as well. The call has been retrieved by FSL Chandigarh from the phone of accused Sandeep Singh. He then spoke to the Director, Sports, to allow all Outstanding Sports Persons (OSP) recruits to train whenever they wanted to. This looks like an attempt to pacify the victim.”

“On examination of the Snapchat conversations recovered from the victim’s phone and from analysis of other FSL data, it is revealed the accused offered to help the victim with her appointment under Haryana OSP policy. However, he had denied doing so in his examination.”

The woman junior coach had lodged an FIR against Sandeep Singh on December 31, 2022, alleging that the minister had molested her in July at his official residence in Sector 7.

After which, Singh, an Olympian and former captain of the Indian hockey team, was booked under sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 354 (assault on woman) 354A (sexual harassment), 354B (assault on woman with intent disrobe), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).