Police in Punjab are inquiring into allegations of “sexual exploitation” against national hockey captain Sardar Singh, made by a young British hockey player of Indian origin who was his live-in partner, an official said yesterday.
The inquiry is being conducted by a special investigation team (SIT) headed by additional Deputy Commissioner of Police S S Atwal, Ludhiana Police Commissioner P S Umranangal said.
The police have not registered a case against Sardar Singh so far.
In a tight spot after the 21-year-old British national filed a complaint of “sexual exploitation” against him, the hockey team captain denied yesterday he was ever engaged to the woman.
However, Singh did not deny knowing the woman, who hails from Leeds and comes from a business family.
“I will first see what report the police have written. Only then will I get back to reply all your questions. I was not engaged (to the woman),” a visibly disturbed Singh told reporters yesterday.
“I have just come from a game last night. I am concentrating on the next game,” Singh said, as he pulled himself away from the media questioning.
He is scheduled to participate in a match of the ongoing Hockey India League (HIL) today.
Singh’s father Gurnam Singh told reporters in Haryana’s Sirsa district yesterday that his son knew the woman but denied they were engaged.
The woman alleged she was “sexually exploited” by her fiancé.
She alleged she was “mentally, physically and emotionally tortured”.
The woman was the first Sikh player in Britain’s Under-19 women’s hockey team.
Investigations in the case have been marked to the Koom Kalan police station in Ludhiana district. Police station in charge S S Nagra confirmed the matter was under probe following the complaint.
The woman alleged that Singh got engaged to her in 2014 and she became pregnant last year. She said he forced her to go for an abortion and began avoiding her thereafter.
The complainant said she met Singh in 2012 after becoming friends through a social networking site. She claimed they began living together after their engagement.
In the past, Singh had posted tweets and his photographs with the British woman.
Sources close to Singh defended him, saying that he had withdrawn from the relationship with the British hockey player after she started putting pressure on him to marry her and settle down in the United Kingdom.
They said Singh, who remains busy in India due to his commitments with the national team and HIL, did not want to settle in the UK.
“She started blackmailing him through SMSes and phone calls to force him to settle in the UK,” a close aide of Singh said.