HYDERABAD: Angat Singh, Jammu & Kashmir U-20 women’s hockey team coach, was accused of sexually assaulting players and was remanded in judicial custody and sent to the Chanchalguda prison till January 28.

Based on a complaint lodged by five players of Punjab, who play for the J&K team, the Chandanagar police had booked a case against him under sections 354 (Assault or use of criminal force to outrage the modesty of a woman) and 506 (Criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on Sunday. The remand order was issued by a magistrate on Monday.

The J&K team arrived in the city to participate in the National U-20 Women’s hockey tournament on January 10. The complainants alleged that Angat Singh had sexually assaulted them during the train journey from Hazrat Nizamuddin to Hyderabad.

The J&K team was knocked out of the tournament on Friday and the issue came to notice of additional DG Tejdeep Kaur Menon, who is one of the organisers of the tournament, when the players were reluctant to undertake their return journey with the coach.

“Five players of the J&K team were reluctant to travel with their coach. On inquiry, they disclosed that Angat Singh had sexually assaulted them and misbehaved throughout the journey from Delhi to Hyderabad,” the additional DG told reporters.

The five complainants boarded the train at Hazrat Nizamuddin station and their seats were not confirmed. According to the police officer, Angat had misbehaved with other players from Jammu, who disembarked from the train along with the team manager.

On receiving the complaint from the players, the Chandanagar police searched for the coach at Gachibowli stadium, the venue of the sport’s event. However, Angat had already left the place by then. By tracking his mobile phone, they learnt that he was on the Delhi-bound AP Express and nabbed him at the Ramagundam railway station with the assistance of Government Railway Police (GRP) late on Sunday night.