Days after entrepreneur Ranjit Bajaj made allegations of sexual harassment against AIFF Secretary General Kushal Das, the federation has responded asking for details.
On Thursday, 5 May evening, in a statement, the AIFF asked Bajaj to provide evidence and gave him a time frame within which he needed to respond.
"In a meeting held earlier today (May 5, 2022), it has been unanimously decided that the AIFF write a letter to Mr Ranjit Bajaj to substantiate his aspersions and allegations against Mr Kushal Das, General Secretary, AIFF, with proper documentary evidence within fifteen (15) days, failing which the AIFF shall take appropriate action as it deems fit and proper,” the AIFF statement read.
Last month, Bajaj, who previously owned I-League club Minerva Punjab FC, had gone public with his allegations, after which the AIFF Internal Complaints Committee head Jyotsna Gupta had outrightly rejected them. Das was then cleared of the charges by the sports body's integrity officer Javed Siraj, who termed the allegations "frivolous and devoid of truth" in his report, according to PTI.
Bajaj, who also wrote to the NCW and had a complaint registered, shot off a note to the FIFA and AFC ethics committees.
AIFF, who according to reports were considering moving court, has been at loggerheads with Bajaj since 2018. Bajaj had been suspended for one year in 2018 after being found "guilty" of making racist remarks against a referee.
In 2019, the AIFF had also reprimanded Bajaj for his criticism of the federation on social media. The AIFF found the criticism derogatory in nature, and Siraj's confidential report also touched upon that.
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