New Delhi, Jan 8 National shooting coach Ankush Bharadwaj has been suspended by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), and a show-cause notice has been issued to him following sexual assault allegations by a 17-year-old national-level shooter, NRAI assistant secretary Rajiv Bhatia told IANS on Thursday.
The national-level female shooter alleged that she was sexually assaulted by Bharadwaj at a hotel in Surajkund, Faridabad, in December last year, during a national championship in New Delhi.
Bhardwaj has been booked by the Haryana Police following an official complaint from the victim's family. According to the FIR registered in Faridabad, the coach sexually assaulted the national-level shooter and threatened to ruin her career.
According to the FIR, the alleged incident occurred on December 16 while she was participating in a national-level shooting competition at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in Tughlakabad, South Delhi.
Police said that a First Information Report (FIR) has been registered based on a complaint from the girl's mother, and that efforts are underway to obtain CCTV footage from the hotel and record the statements of witnesses connected to the case.
According to the complaint, a senior police officer said that a case was registered on Tuesday at the Women's Police Station in NIT Faridabad under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Section 351(2) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), as the athlete is a minor.
The FIR states that after the match, the coach allegedly asked her to meet him in the lobby of the Surajkund Hotel in Faridabad, where he was staying, to analyse her performance.
When she arrived at the hotel, she was pressured to go to the coach's room for a more in-depth discussion. The FIR alleges that in the hotel room, the coach sexually assaulted her and threatened to ruin her career and harm her family if she revealed the incident.
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