“Arrest wrestling body chief by June 9 Or…”: Farmer leaders warn Centre

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ A “khap mahapanchayat” held here on Friday demanded the arrest of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and said if the demand is not met, farmers will take the protesting wrestlers to Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on June 9.

The Delhi Police cleared the site of the wrestlers’ over-month-long sit-in at Jantar Mantar on May 28 and detained them after a scuffle with security personnel who tried to stop them from marching to the new Parliament building as it was being inaugurated.

Subsequently, wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia along with other protesters were booked for rioting and obstructing public servant in discharge of duty. The “khap mahapanchayat” deliberated on the next steps to be taken in the agitation pertaining to the wrestlers’ issue and set the deadline of June 9 for the government to act on its demand.

Talking to reporters after the “mahapanchayat”, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said WFI chief Singh, who has been accused of sexually harassing some women wrestlers, should be arrested and the cases against the wrestlers registered recently should be withdrawn.