Woman coach accuses Haryana sports minister Sandeep Singh of harassment, he says Opp stunt

The woman, an international level athlete who was also a member of Rio Olympics Indian women’s 400m squad, was recruited as junior coach under Outstanding Sports Person (OPS) scheme three months ago.

Written by Nitin Sharma

Chandigarh | Updated: January 1, 2023 11:16 AM IST

2 min read

Haryana Sports Minister Sandeep Singh.

Listen to this article

Your browser does not support the audio element.

A junior athletics coach in Haryana Thursday accused state Sports Minister Sandeep Singh of sexual harassment, a charge that the Olympian and former Indian hockey team captain termed as a “political stunt by the Opposition” and demanded an independent inquiry in the matter.

The woman, an international level athlete, claimed she did not have a record of the messages as the minister sent them in “disappearing mode”. She levelled the allegations during a press conference held the residence of INLD leader Abhay Chautala in Chandigarh.

“Since the last 3-4 months, I have been disturbed due to the actions of Sports Minister Sandeep Singh. Since I had been training… after my injury, I met him a couple of times at the gym. Later, he contacted me through Instagram and asked me to download Snapchat. He also asked me to meet him at Lake Club in the evening. He would chat and delete the messages on Instagram and Snapchat… He then told me on Instagram that my service forms were not filled and asked me to meet him. When I went to his residence with all my documents, he called me to his cabin, and touched me inappropriately. When I resisted, he told me ‘you make me happy and I will make you happy’. I rushed out and told the police officials present there but nobody helped me. I ran towards the… lake. After I reached my residence, I also contacted the personal secretary of Haryana DGP PK Aggarwal. The personal secretary told me to relax and not take up the matter against the minister,” she alleged.

The minister denied the allegations and called it a political stunt by the opposition. “I always meet players at the camp office in my residence and if there is an iota of truth in the allegations, why was no complaint made with the police or sports department.

Nitin Sharma

Nitin Sharma is an Assistant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story ‘Harmans of Moga’, Nitin has also been a two-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022 and 2023 respectively. Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women’s cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships. An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin’s interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin's interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. ... Read More

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Tags:

sandeep singh