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Arjuna award-winning Indian hockey player Varun Kumar has been booked under the POCSO act by the Bengaluru Police after he was accused of raping a minor.
In her police complaint, the 22-year-old said that she came in contact with Varun Kumar in 2018 through Instagram. Later, Kumar promised the victim of marriage and raped her on multiple occasions when she was 17.
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According to the victim, Kumar was training at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Bengaluru when she met him. “Based on the complaint received from the woman, we have registered a case on Monday against the Hockey player under the appropriate section of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and sections 376 (rape) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code,” PTI quoted a senior Bengaluru Police officer on Tuesday.
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Earlier, there was speculation that Varun was on the run, but Hockey India rejected the rumour. “He is not absconding. He is in Bhubaneswar with the team,” a Hockey India source told PTI.
Who is Varun, the hockey player booked under the POCSO act?
Varun Kumar was on the Indian standby list for the Tokyo Olympics. Currently, he is training with the national squad in Bhubaneswar for the upcoming FIH Pro League. The Indian team is set to face Spain in the opening encounter on February 10.
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Kumar hails from Himachal Pradesh and made his debut for India in 2017. He was on the Indian standby list for the Tokyo Olympics, currently training with the national squad in Bhubaneswar for the upcoming FIH Pro League. Varun Kumar was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2021 and was recently promoted to a DSP in Punjab.
In the FIR, the victim alleged that Varun insisted on meeting her after they got in touch on social media. The two became friends and eventually got into a relationship. The woman also said that Kumar took her to a hotel in Bengaluru’s Jayanagar in July 2019 and had physical relations with her. She resisted his move but agreed after he promised to take their relationship a step further and marry her, said the woman.
“She accused him of getting physical with her on several occasions over the five-year-long relationship she shared with him on the pretext of marriage,” PTI quoted FIR stated.
After some time, Varun Kumar started distancing himself from her and stopped responding to her calls and messages after the death of her father last year.
A few months later, Kumar started threatening the woman of uploading her photos on social media if she continued to exert pressure on him to remain in the relationship.
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Published: 06 Feb 2024, 11:33 PM IST
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