BENGALURU: Bengaluru Police has booked feted hockey player Varun Kumar under the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act following a complaint by a 21-year-old woman, who accused the Arjuna awardee of sexually abusing her when she was a minor.
The woman, who hails from Hyderabad and is currently working with an airline, said she met Kumar in 2018 when he was training at the Sports Authority of India in Bengaluru. She said Kumar later contacted her through Instagram and insisted on meeting her.
In her complaint to police, the woman said Kumar took her to a hotel room in Bengaluru in July 2019 on the pretext of having a discussion about their marriage and got physically intimate with her.
She said she continued the relationship for five years based on his promise to marry her.
She filed a complaint when he allegedly refused to marry her and also stopped responding to her calls.
S Girish, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West), said: “A case has been registered against the hockey player. At present, he is not in Karnataka. Two teams will be sent to trace him.”
Kumar has also been booked under sections 376 (rape) and 420 (cheating) of the IPC.
Kumar, 28, is a native of Himachal Pradesh, who debuted for India in 2017. The Himachal government awarded him Rs 1 crore after the Indian men’s Hockey team won the bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
He was also part of the Indian team that won silver in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. He was conferred the Arjuna Award in 2021. He later moved to Punjab and was recently promoted to the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police.
Accused currently in Odisha
Varun is currently training with the national squad in Bhubaneswar for the upcoming FIH Pro League. India are scheduled to face Spain in their opening encounter on February 10.