Sports Minister Anurag Thakur holds talks with protesting wrestlers

It is the second meeting between the government and protesting wrestlers, who had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah last week.

Wrestlers Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia, and Satyawart Kadiyan have gone to Sports Minister Anurag Thakur’s residence in New Delhi to hold talks with him amid their ongoing protest against Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

A source at Mr. Thakur’s office said that Vinesh Phogat has not joined the wrestlers’ delegation at the meeting.

It is the second meeting between the government and protesting wrestlers, who met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday night.

A delegation consisting of wrestlers and their coaches had met with Home Minister Amit Shah at his official residence on late June 3. A source told The Hindu, “In the meeting, which lasted for around two hours, the wrestlers pressed for timely action and demanded an unbiased investigation, to which, the Home Minister told them to trust the process of investigation, which is still under way and the law shall take its course.”

In the said meeting, wrestlers requested the Home Minister to take back the FIR filed against them. An FIR was registered against the wrestlers on May 28, after they had marched towards the new Parliament building during its inauguration. They were booked under rioting.

Earlier, a team of Delhi Police visited the residence of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s residence in Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh to investigate the sexual harassment charges against him, officers said on June 6.

Officers said the investigating police team questioned roughly a dozen employees and associates of Mr. Singh and recorded their statements. A source in the Delhi Police said that the team visited Mr. Singh’s residence late on Monday and then again on Tuesday morning.