'Let them fight their battle', Sourav Ganguly refuses to comment on wrestlers' protest

Top Indian wrestlers like Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik and Asian and Commonwealth Games medal winner Vinesh Phogat along with other grapplers have been sitting in a protest at Jantar Mantar for the last many days, demanding the arrest of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for alleged sexual harassment of female wrestlers.

Various sportsperson have voiced their concerns about the protesting wrestlers. But former India skipper and ex-BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly, when asked about his take on the issue on Friday, said he would not like to talk on the matter without having complete knowledge.

Ganguly hoped the issue gets resolved as "these wrestlers have won a lot of medals, brought laurels for the country".

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Top Indian wrestlers like Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik and Asian and Commonwealth Games medal winner Vinesh Phogat along with other grapplers have been sitting in a protest at Jantar Mantar for the last many days, demanding the arrest of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for alleged sexual harassment of female wrestlers.

"Let them fight their battle. I don't know what's happening there, I just read in the newspapers. In the sports world, I realised one thing that you don't talk about things you don't have complete knowledge of," Ganguly said at an event on Friday.

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Also read | Protesting wrestlers organise langar at Jantar Mantar, serve food to participants

"I hope the issue gets resolved, these wrestlers have won a lot of medals, brought laurels for the country," he added.

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Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday said that all the demands of wrestlers had been fulfilled and they should now allow the investigation to be completed.

"A demand was there to form a committee and it was constituted, FIR has been registered by Delhi Police, and the Supreme Court also gave its verdict. The Delhi Police are conducting a fair investigation.

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"I request the players that their demands are being fulfilled and they should allow the investigation to be completed," Thakur told reporters here.

Also read | Wrestlers' demands have been met, should allow probe to be completed: Anurag Thakur

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The protesting wrestlers, however, said that they will continue their protest against the WFI chief until he is sent behind bars.

Earlier, the Supreme Court on Thursday closed the proceedings on a petition filed by the protesting wrestlers, on whose complaint FIRs have been registered against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

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The apex court noted that security has been provided to the wrestlers and also turned down a plea by their counsel for monitoring of the investigation by a former judge.

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