Wrestling Federation of India office is back to its old address – home of sexual harassment accused Brij Bhushan Singh

This, despite the Sports Ministry, while suspending WFI in December 2023, mentioning that running the federation from within “premises controlled by former officer bearers” was one of the reasons for their action.

Also, according to a Delhi Police chargesheet, two wrestlers had alleged that incidents of inappropriate touch and groping occurred at the WFI office located at Singh’s official MP residence at 21, Ashoka Road.

Within weeks of the action against them by the ministry in 2023, the WFI had moved to a one-room premises in Hari Nagar. In fact, on the homepage of WFI’s official website, the address is still listed as 101, Hari Nagar, Ashram Chowk, New Delhi–110014.

Hari Nagar 2: Jan 2025: The nameplate has been removed. (Express)

When The Indian Express visited this address last July, the nameplate at the building entrance and the door of the small room had WFI written on it. However, the door was locked. The owner of the office space said that WFI had vacated the place.

Returning to the bustling commercial building Wednesday, The Indian Express found that 101, Hari Nagar has a new tenant who said WFI had moved out “many months ago.”
WFI’s current president Sanjay Singh did not respond to calls and text messages seeking a comment on the office shift.

When contacted, WFI Treasurer S P Deshwal said that “the office is still in Hari Nagar”.

However, when told that a new firm had moved there and the WFI staff was working from 21, Ashoka Road, Deshwal said, “The work of the federation can happen from where its people are based. From where it is easy to function.Office work can happen from two places, but the official address is Hari Nagar. As Treasurer, I am only concerned with the books of accounts.”

At 21, Ashoka Road, the front entrance doesn’t have a WFI name plate but on Wednesday (January 22), in the room from where the federation had been working for over a decade — when Brij Bhushan Singh was president — veteran WFI office hands were at work. It was business as usual for these men who have been WFI’s office staff for long. They were scanning through documents related to the Zagreb Open, a ranking series event to be held in the first week of February. They were updating data on computers, checking certificates, sifting through wrestling-related documents in files and giving printouts.

On the printer placed on the table rested a bulging brown bag that has the Olympics rings and Team India written on it.

“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.

Hari Nagar 1: July, 2024: A WFI nameplate at the entrance to the building in Hari Nagar.

Brij Bhushan Singh, too, was at home.

The inside door of the office opens into a hall with a showcase full of trophies, which leads to a room where the veteran politician meets guests. Singh was seated in a large chair.

There was a steady stream of visitors to meet “Netaji” – local BJP leaders, the grandson of a former minister, grassroots politicians from Gonda and Bahraich, and businessmen. Most of them touched Singh’s feet, all had a common demand – a photograph with Netaji.

When asked why the WFI had moved back to his address, Singh said he “didn’t want to discuss wrestling.” He said he wished to talk only about politics – the upcoming Delhi elections and the state of affairs in Uttar Pradesh. Though Brij Bhushan Singh is no longer an MP, he continues to live here.

He said he does not interfere with the functioning of the current WFI office bearers.

In the past he had said he cut ties with the sport and the federation following a meeting with the then BJP president JP Nadda, post the controversial WFI elections in December 2023.

But that very election had shown that Singh continued to have influence on the new office bearers. Within minutes of winning the elections, his one-time protege Sanjay Singh had come to Ashoka Road. He garlanded Singh, and they posed for photos showing victory signs. Chants of “dabdaba tha, dabdaba rahega (Dominance will continue)” had hit the air then, and they still find an echo at 21, Ashoka Road.