A day after former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Singh’s close aide and loyalist, Sanjay Singh was elected as the new president of the wrestling body, Wrestler Bajrang Punia on Friday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that he will be returning his Padma Shri Award.

"I am returning my Padma Shri award to the Prime Minister. This tweet serves as my official statement regarding this action," Punia wrote on X.

Punia was among the wrestlers who protested against BJP MP and former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Singh who was accused of sexual harassment by several women wrestlers. 

Brij Bhushan’s loyalist Sanjay Singh was elected as the president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief on Thursday, winning 13 of the 15 positions. While another applicant, former Indian wrestler and Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Anita Sheoran received only seven out of 47 votes. 

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Singh’s election as WFI chief came as a big jolt to wrestlers who were protesting against Brij Bhushan over the sexual harassment allegations levelled by the top women wrestlers of the country.

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Following Sanjay Singgh’s election, Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat addressed a press conference in which Malik announced that she would quit wrestling as a mark of protest. “If Brij Bhushan Singh's business partner and a close aide is elected as the president of WFI, I quit wrestling,” she said. 

Meanwhile, Brij Bhushan Singh expressed happiness over the election of his loyalist as the WFI chief and said that it was the victory of the wrestlers and expressed hope that wrestling events would resume in the country. 

"This is not my personal victory, this is the victory of the wrestlers of the country. I hope that after the formation of the new federation, wrestling events will resume which were paused for the past 11 months,” he said.


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