Former I-League club Minerva Punjab FC owner and entrepreneur Ranjit Bajaj on Monday, 25 April 2022, alleged that All India Football Federation (AIFF) general secretary Kushal Das molested employees at his workplace. However, the AIFF and its top office-bearer have vehemently denied these allegations. Ranjit Bajaj owned Minerva Punjab for 7 years.
He alleged that there were “two cases of employee molestation at workplace” against Kushal Das and the committee dealing with complaints of sexual harassment shrugged off the matter due to pressure from AIFF president and former Union minister Praful Patel. Was. Ranjeet Bajaj tweeted, ‘Kushal Das resign or else I will reveal your activities which Praful Patel got rid of.’
He wrote, ‘There were two cases of molestation of our employees at workplace. The head of AIFF’s sexual harassment complaints officer was forced by Praful Patel to suppress this report.
Ranjit Bajaj later told PTI, ‘I am not making any allegations against the federation. This allegation is against a person and he can give an affidavit against it in the court. Let him first refute these allegations. He will have to answer personally without using the public relations department of AIFF.
Refuting these allegations, Kushal Das said, “AIFF has always had a women’s cell to deal with such allegations. He has not come across any such case in the last 10 years. Let the women’s cell look into the allegations leveled by him. Let the executive committee take a decision before I say anything.
The AIFF backed its top official in the matter, saying it would take “appropriate legal action against the person concerned”. According to the statement issued by AIFF, ‘All the statements and allegations are false and fabricated. He has been imprisoned without any evidence. The Internal Complaints Committee constituted by AIFF as per the ‘POSH’ Act 2013 has not received any such complaint.
The current head of the Internal Complaints Committee, Jyotsna Gupta, said she or her committee has not received any complaint against Das or any AIFF official. Jyotsna Gupta said, “As the head of the committee, I have not received any such complaint (of sexual harassment) against the general secretary or any AIFF official.”
Shanta Gopinath, who chaired the committee before Jyotsna Gupta took charge last year, also said she had not received any complaint against Das. After selling Minerva Punjab, Bajaj runs the Minerva Academy Football Club in Mohali. He was banned for one year by the AIFF in 2018 for making racial remarks against the referee.