Varun Kumar withdraws from FIH Pro League, accused of raping a minor
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Arjuna Award winning Indian hockey player Varun Kumar, accused of rape under the POCSO Act, has pulled out of the FIH Pro League in Bhubaneswar to explore legal options against the charges against him, terming it a ‘planned attempt to extort money’. Is. Hockey India has granted immediate leave to the 28-year-old player as the player said the incident was affecting his mental and physical health.
Let us tell you that a woman has alleged that Varun sexually assaulted her several times when she was a minor, after which Bengaluru Police has registered a case against this hockey player. The 22-year-old woman, in her complaint filed on Monday, has said that she came in contact with Varun through Instagram in 2018 and when she was 17 years old, the player raped her several times on the pretext of marriage.
Varun has claimed in a letter to Hockey India President Dilip Tirkey that the complaint filed against him is false and it is an abuse of the state government machinery. PTI also has a copy of this letter. Varun has written in his letter, “I have come to know from media reports that a girl with whom I was previously in a relationship has filed a false case against me and an FIR has been registered in this matter in Bengaluru. However, no investigation has been done in this matter.” No police officer contacted me.
He said, “This case is nothing but a deliberate attempt to extort money from me and tarnish my reputation and image because I am a reputed hockey player and plays for India and is an Arjuna Awardee.” She knows that such a case can tarnish my career and image.” Varun, who is with the Indian team in Bhubaneswar for the Pro League matches, said that he will fight a legal battle against these allegations. Varun has written in the letter, “To exercise my legal rights, I need immediate leave from the academy and hence unfortunately I will not be able to participate in the Pro League.”
He said, “This incident is affecting my physical and mental health and this is a difficult time for me and my family. As a player, I have learned the lesson of never giving up till the end and hence I request your support in these difficult times.
Apart from Tirkey, this letter has also been sent to men’s team head coach Craig Fulton and Hockey India general secretary Bholanath Singh. The woman has alleged in the FIR that after contacting her through Instagram in 2018, Varun asked her to meet him and she agreed to do so on the insistence of some friends. After that they became friends and a relationship developed between them. According to the woman, in July 2019, he took her to a hotel in Jayanagar, Bengaluru and had physical relations with her despite her being a minor and protesting.
According to Hockey India sources, the victim was a volleyball player at the National Center of Excellence of Sports Authority of India (SAI), Bengaluru. However, she left the sport after this and is currently working as an air hostess. Varun was honored with the Arjuna Award in 2021. He was recently promoted to the post of DSP in Punjab Police. He hails from Himachal Pradesh and made his debut for India in 2017.
Disclaimer: IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.
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