Sports Ministry suspends WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar, cancels tournament

The ministry said it has also directed the WFI to suspend "all ongoing activities with immediate effect", including the Ranking Tournament in Gonda.

The Sports Ministry on Saturday suspended Wrestling Federation of India's (WFI) assistant secretary Vinod Tomar, a fallout of the grapplers' allegations of sexual harassment and corruption against the sports body's chief, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

It has decided to suspend Tomar, "with immediate effect, to ensure proper functioning of WFI".

The ministry said it has also directed the WFI to suspend "all ongoing activities with immediate effect", including the Ranking Tournament in Gonda, UP, Sharan's stronghold.

This comes a day after Sports Minister Anurag Thakur announced the formation of an oversight committee to probe the charges levelled by some of the country's top wrestlers, including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Ravi Dahiya, against Sharan and his body.

Regarding Tomar, the ministry said in a letter, which is in possession of the PTI, that his presence will be "detrimental to the development of this high-priority discipline".

"The Ministry has taken note of the reports about the functioning of the WFI, including the role of Shri Vinod Tomar and, has the reasons to believe that his continued presence will be detrimental to the development of this high-priority discipline," the ministry said in the letter.

The aggrieved wrestlers had alleged that Tomar took bribes from athletes and was involved in financial corruption, helping him to build property worth crores.