Ranjit Bajaj accuses AIFF General Secretary of sexual harassment, Federation denies charges (UPDATED)
RANJIT BAJAJ, OWNER of Delhi FC, has made some explosive allegations against AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das, which the Federation has promptly denied.
After word came out of AIFF's acting technical director Savio Medeira's resignation, Mr Bajaj, who formerly owned I-League winning club Minerva Punjab FC, responded to the development with a long Twitter thread that levelled allegations of sexual harassment against Mr Das, and accused AIFF President Praful Patel of covering it up.
….cont …Kushal Das RESIGN Or I will be revealing details about you which have been buried by @praful_patel #METOO #metooindia enuf is enuf-you are a monster who needs to be shut down-won’t allow you to ruin lives like this anymore-see @jaydeepbasu tweets on this matter…cont
— Ranjit Bajaj (@THE_RanjitBajaj) April 25, 2022
…Cont..Who is head of madatory sexual harassment complaint officer of AIFF &he was forced to bury the report by @praful_patel so two cases of molestation of his employees at the workplace & the fact he starts(kushal DAS )drinking at 10 am in office???????????????? #MeToo #indianfootball
— Ranjit Bajaj (@THE_RanjitBajaj) April 25, 2022
He also alleged that Mr Medeira was "humiliated" by Kushal Das, which is what led to his resignation.
In a statement on the matter, the AIFF categorically denied the allegation and said it would take "apprpriate legal action" on the matter.
Here's the Federation's statement in full,
"The All India Football Federation (the “AIFF”) has become aware of statements made by one Mr. Ranjit Bajaj on Twitter, levelling serious allegations of sexual harassment against the General Secretary of the AIFF, Mr. Kushal Das.
All statements and allegations made in this regard are false and fabricated, and made without an iota of evidence in support of the same. Further, no such complaints and/or concerns were received by the Internal Complaints Committee constituted by the AIFF as per the PoSH Act, 2013.
The AIFF follows a strong ethical code of conduct within the organisation, ensuring the protection and wellbeing of all its staff members. The allegations made by Mr. Bajaj are defamatory in nature, causing harm not only to Mr. Das but also to the entire footballing fraternity in India. In consideration of the same, the AIFF has considered it prudent to take appropriate legal action against the concerned individual.
The AIFF will also refer the matter to the Executive Committee, and also to the AGM for appropriate action."
In response to the Federation's denial, Ranjit Bajaj provided further details on Twitter about when and where the alleged incidents took place. However, he said he would not name the alleged victims publicly.
I will not be naming the victims publicly #MeToo #metooindia but I can tell you the dates, time and venue. The first incident happened on 28th Nov 2015 one day after AFC Awards function at the Taj Palace Hotel New Delhi.
— Ranjit Bajaj (@THE_RanjitBajaj) April 26, 2022
The second incident happened on 14th Feb 2020 Valentine’s Day, after the IWL Final in a restaurant near Chancery Hotel in Bangalore #Metoo -now let’s disseminate the AIFF statement-they carried out a internal investigation & cleared the GS within 30 minutes of me tweeting-wow????..
— Ranjit Bajaj (@THE_RanjitBajaj) April 26, 2022
The lady complained to Col. Mehta head of internal complaints committee in 2015. Ms. Jyotsna Gupta who is currently head of POSH committee could not have known this. She is giving clean chits to Kushal Das, but she is his private secretary and head of posh-conflict of interest
— Ranjit Bajaj (@THE_RanjitBajaj) April 26, 2022
This preferred firm has been given all travel, logistics, events organisation contracts from AIFF worth crores without floating tenders. Despite having own internal logistics dept, AIFF is paying exorbitant fees to this firm. #indianfootball #MeToo
— Ranjit Bajaj (@THE_RanjitBajaj) April 26, 2022
Meanwhile, by Tuesday evening, Mr Kushal Das's lawyers had sent a legal notice to Mr Ranjit Bajaj regarding this matter. A picture of the document was shared on social media by senior sports journalist Dulal Dey.
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