Delhi court acquits Arjuna awardee Khajan Singh in rape case filed by woman CRPF constable

New Delhi: A Delhi court has acquitted suspended CRPF chief sports officer Khajan Singh— Arjuna Awardee and Asian Games medalist— and one other person in an alleged rape case filed by a woman constable, after she claimed to have levelled the accusations in a “fit of anger”. The 30-year-old woman had alleged that Khajan and suspended coach Sarjeet Singh were running a sex racket within CRPF, raped her for three years between 2014 and 2017, and threatened to make her nude photos viral. She had filed the complaint in November 2020. She later retracted the statement and said that she had filed the complaint in a fit of anger after being thrown out of the department’s wrestling team on the grounds of indiscipline for having an argument with a team member. The woman deposed that Sarjeet was a member of the inquiry team who had disqualified her from taking part in the wrestling events and Khajan was the Chief Sports Officer in the CRPF department. While acquitting the duo, Additional Sessions Judge Lokesh Kumar Sharma said that it was evident from her testimony that she was neither raped nor threatened by the accused person at any point in time. In the 16 September order, the judge further noted that nothing incriminating came out in evidence against the accused even after her cross-examination by the public prosecutor. Complainant in her deposition admitted that she had made the complaint in a fit of anger. She admitted the fact that she was instigated by her colleagues. In view of her deposition, the accused could not be held guilty of committing rape upon her. Hence, the accused stand acquitted, the court sad. Khajan Singh had won a silver medal at the 1986 Seoul Asian Games in the 200m butterfly event which was India’s first medal in swimming at the event since 1951. In April, the CRPF had suspended Khajan Singh and Sarjeet Singh after a preliminary probe found them guilty of sexual harassment of women personnel.