New Delhi: A 30-year-old constable working in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has accused the Chief Sports Officer (CSO) Khajan Singh of running a “sex scandal” in the force along with another officer, and sexually harassing, raping and intimidating her for several years.
Khajan Singh was a national swimming champion who won silver at the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul. He is also an Arjuna awardee.
In an FIR lodged in the Baba Haridas Nagar Police Station in Dwarka, the constable, who joined the force in 2010 and has won several medals while playing for the Central Wrestling team of the CRPF, has accused the team coach Surjit Singh and CSO Khajan Singh, a DIG-level officer, of rape, sexual harassment and intimidation.
“Both Surjit Singh and Khajan Singh run a sex scandal within CRPF and have many accomplices,” she alleged in the FIR, which has been accessed by ThePrint. “They sexually harass female constables and later use them as their accomplice.”
When reached for a comment by ThePrint, Khajan Singh said he was in a meeting, and will respond “in some time”.
However, Surjit Singh told ThePrint that the allegations were “absolutely baseless” and said they were “a desperate attempt to malign him”.
“Why did she keep quiet for four to five years if this actually happened? As you know, such cases are always false and motivated,” he said. “It’s a conspiracy.”
ThePrint reached the constable via telephone but she refused to talk about the case.
When reached for a comment, CRPF spokesperson M. Dinakaran replied to ThePrint on text message and said: “FIR of rape charges filed against Shri Khajan Singh, DIG by a Constable Women. CRPF has taken a serious note of the complaint and has already constituted an Internal Complaints Committee headed by an Inspector General-level officer to conduct an inquiry. As far as FIR is concerned, the Department will facilitate the investigation agency in all respects (sic).”
ThePrint also reached CRPF director general, A.P. Maheshwari for a comment who said the spokesperson’s response should suffice.
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‘Inappropriate touches, lewd messages & sex scandal’
In her complaint, the woman said she had joined the CRPF as a constable on 5 June 2010, and had since played for the Central Wrestling team and won several medals at the national and international levels.
“In 2012, I joined the Central Wrestling team. Surjit Singh, who is the Coach of Wrestling team started sexually harassing me and many other girls in the team. Under the pretext of giving training, he touched me and other girls inappropriately. He took advantage of being the male coach and asked me and other girls in the team to meet him individually,” she alleged in the FIR.
She went on to claim that he had sent them “lewd messages” such as “kiss de do (give me a kiss)”, “I love you,” and “Apne nude photos bhejo (send me nude photos of yourself)”.
She alleged that the coach “acts on the instructions” of the DIG (Sports), Khajan Singh, and forces young girls to give him sexual favours.
After Surjit, Khajan started calling her from different numbers, and explicitly asked her for sexual favours, she has alleged in her complaint.
She also alleged that both Surjit and Khajan “secretly took my nude photos while having a bath”.
“I was blackmailed through these photographs and they threatened that if I do not talk to them, they would circulate my photos and make it viral on the internet.”
She then alleged that the two men would send her nude photos of themselves. The constable began recording these messages and calls on her phone, after which the accused had her phone stolen, she alleged in the complaint.
A national swimming champion, Khajan Singh was given the Arjuna Award in 1984. He also represented the country in the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics in 1982 and 1988, respectively. He is often referred to as the country’s “best swimmer”, and runs a renowned swimming academy in Delhi.
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‘Raped in DIG office, swimming pool, flats for 3 years’
The constable said she got “fed up” with the alleged harassment in March 2014 and lodged a formal complaint with a CRPF inspector general. However, she claimed she was threatened with dire consequences by the accused, including being terminated from her job, if she did not withdraw her complaint.
“They also manipulated me that if I withdraw my complaint, the sexual harassment at their hands will stop. I was scared and wanted to put an end to the regular sexual harassment at the hands of these senior officers, thus I wrote a letter withdrawing my complaint,” she claimed in the FIR.
“After I withdrew my complaint, Khajan Singh and Surjit Singh became more aggressive and vicious towards me.”
The constable alleged that in October and November 2014, she was taken to a flat in Vasant Kunj, where she was “raped by both Khajan Singh and Surjit Singh continuously for three days”.
“On 31.10.2014 and 2.11.2014 during afternoon both Khajan Singh and Surjit Singh together raped me. On 1.11.2014 Surjit Singh alone raped me,” she alleged.
“They took naked photos and later blackmailed me by showing those photos.”
She alleged that they used these photos for raping her “continuously” for over a period of three years (2014-2017). “They raped me at different locations in Delhi — a flat in Vasant Kunj, Guest room in the DIG office, R.K. Puram, Swimming pool in Munirka and a flat in Dwarka.
“I feared for my life and succumbed before both Surjit Singh and Khajan Singh,” she stated.
She also alleged that the two asked her to give sexual favours to other officers as well.
Finding courage and more ‘intimidation’
The constable was selected for a wrestling tournament in Los Angeles, where she won the bronze medal in 2017. This, she said, gave her courage to stop acceding to the alleged sexual harassment, but claimed that this led to intimidation through “bogus show cause notices”.
In May 2018, she was produced twice as a witness in a colleague’s sexual harassment complaint against Surjit Singh. On these occasions, the constable claimed, she testified that she was raped by Surjit and Khajan Singh, however, her statements were not recorded in writing.
On one occasion, she claimed, she was “brutally assaulted” by other constables at the “behest” of the two senior officers when she asked for a duty change. She was hospitalised for six days and suffered serious injuries after the attack because of which she was on medical leave from July to December 2018, she stated.
Following this episode, an inquiry was done against the constable, and she was transferred to West Bengal. “This all happened because I decided not to accede to the demands of Khajan Singh and Surjit Singh, who are very powerful and have contacts with senior officials in the CRPF and MHA,” she alleged.
While at home on medical leave, she wrote a letter to the National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson, the CRPF director general, and the home secretary seeking action against the two men. However, she did not mention in those letters that she was raped as she was “too ashamed and scared of the consequences”, she said.
‘I feared for my life and job’
With the internal committee inquiry starting, the constable claimed she is again being threatened by the two accused.
“I fear for my life and believe they will harm me as they have earlier done in the past,” she alleged.
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