Batra wanted me out, alleges Kaushik

NEW DELHI: Taking a dig at Hockey India over its observations in the sexual harassment case against him, MK Kaushik on Monday accused the body of having malafide intention while dealing with the allegations.

In a letter to HI president Vidya Stokes, Kaushik claimed that the HI has undermined the findings of its own enquiry committee by giving certain suggestions and by doing so “HI is desperately trying to substantiate its agenda of replacing me as the national coach of the women’s team”.

Kaushik, who held a press conference in the presence of his lawyer Mandira Mitra, alleged that HI secretary general Narender Batra had been conspiring for long to appoint “a certain person” as coach. “This is further substantiated by the fact that within two to three days of the lodging of the false complaint, a prominent ex-hockey player offered his services as the coach of the women’s hockey team.”

The former Olympian also expressed displeasure in the manner in which Batra released HI’s letter and other documents to the media before giving it to him. Batra released the letter on Saturday while Kaushik said he received his copy on Monday at 11 pm.

Referring to HI’s letter in which it said that it would not avail Kaushik’s services in future, Kaushik asked that since “no conclusive enquiry report has held me guilty of the charges levelled against me”, how could Batra say such a thing.

He said the HI letter was also contradictory since at one place it stated that the written versions of Ranjita Devi commands “high credibility” since it has made specific charges and specific comments. “But in the second part, the management admits that the committee did not have coercive power to verify and test the versions of Ranjita Devi.”

He added: “Now it’s very hard to understand how a statement can be termed as highly credible when admittedly it has not been verified.”

Kaushik’s letter said that the tone and tenor of certain aspects in HI’s letter, copies of which were also addressed to sports secretary and director general of Sports Authority of India, “make it clear that the management of HI is acting in a vindictive manner and making recommendations (to the higher authorities) which are against the conclusions of the enquiry committee.”

Kaushik also said that the players who could not make the team on the basis of merit turned against him. He said the decision to send the report to police was “pre-meditated and is part of a larger plan by the management of HI to replace me. I see this as an attempt to intimidate me, my family and future coaches.” Kaushik’s lawyer said that the former player might move court if the need arises against those who have “maligned” him.