IANS
CHANDIGARH, FEBruary 4
India’s hockey captain Sardar Singh on Thursday threatened to sue the woman who has accused him of sexual harassment, saying she used his social media accounts to post her side of the story without his consent.
Saying that they were good friends but there was no “romantic relationship”, the 29-year-old denied the allegations of a sexual harassment against him by the British woman hockey player of Indian origin.
“Last time when I was playing in Spain, she had access to my emails as earlier my friends used to use these,” a visibly-disturbed Sardar Singh told reporters here.
“Some tweets that were attributed to me were also misused. She had also announced through Twitter that we will get married soon. At that time we were playing in Spain,” he said.
“We met before London Olympics (in 2012) through Facebook and then we have not met,” Sardar Singh, who is representing Jaypee Punjab Warriors in the Hockey India League (HIL), added.
“There was no romantic relationship. I agree that she went to my home. But there was no much talk between my parents and her parents.”
Sardar Singh, an official with Haryana Police, said he was not in touch with the woman for two years and the allegation regarding rape and getting her child aborted were false.
“When the (police) report comes, I will see what legal action is required,” he added.
Punjab Police on Wednesday constituted a special investigation team to look into allegations of “sexual exploitation” levelled by the 21-year-old British national against Sardar Singh.
The police have not registered any case against Sardar so far.
Clarifying that he played safe in his relationship with the woman, he said: “She took my passwords (of my social media accounts) from my friends. She posted on her own that we are getting married. At that time (playing in Spain), I informed my coaches. My entire focus is on hockey. I will take legal action against her.”
The woman had alleged that Sardar refused to marry her after exploiting her. She hails from Leeds and comes from a business family.
She alleged that she was “mentally, physically and emotionally tortured”.
The complainant is the first Sikh to play in Britain’s Under-19 women’s hockey team.
Sardar’s father Gurnam Singh told reporters in Haryana’s Sirsa district on Wednesday that his son knew the woman but denied both were engaged.
The woman alleged that Sardar got engaged to her in 2014 and she became pregnant last year as a result of their physical relationship. She said he forced her to abort and began avoiding her thereafter.
The complainant said she met Sardar in 2012 after becoming friends through a social networking site. She claimed they began living together after their engagement.
In the past, Sardar had posted tweets and his photographs with the British woman.
Sources close to Sardar defended him on Wednesday, 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 Britain.
They said that Sardar, who remains busy in India due to his commitments with the national team and HIL, did not want to settle in Britain.
“She started black-mailing him through SMSes and phone calls to force him to settle in the UK,” a close aide of Sardar said on Wednesday.
