Wrestling referee Jagbir Singh is involved in yet another controversy as he was removed by the Wrestling Federation of India from the technical committee without any explanation. According to Jagbir, the decision was taken as he has been supporting the wrestlers’ protest against federation chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Jagbir Singh told The Bridge, “WFI has removed my name from the list of technical officials. This happened on the 6th of April after they removed me from a Whatsapp group made for technical officials." Jagbir continued, “They released a list of technical officials for ranking series in Gonda, and my name was removed from it. The primary reason is my support for these wrestlers. This is a long story."
The wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia came out in support of Jagbir in February after the meeting of all the wrestlers in January. Singh was ready to support them and opined that it was not related to WFI and now he was removed without any explanation.
The referee has been involved in International and national level tournaments since 2007 and has also accused ex-WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar to be behind this move. The referee said that he will continue supporting the protest in spite of the sack.
Jagbir Singh was involved in another controversy when wrestler Satyender Malik slapped him during CWG trials. This incident led to a lifelong ban for the wrestler and the referee also filed an FIR against him.
The wrestlers who are currently protesting at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar moved to court after failing to convince Delhi Police to register an FIR on their April 21 complaint in which seven national and international medallists, including a minor, alleged sexual harassment by Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who is also a BJP member of parliament from Kaiserganj. The Delhi Police have now filed an FIR against the wrestling body Chief.
