Two women footballers accuse ‘drunk’ AIFF official of physically assaulting them

A member of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has been accused of assaulting two women footballers whilst being drunk, according to multiple media reports. The shocking development came to light after the alleged victims filed a complaint with the AIFF's competitions committee on Friday (Mar 29).

According to the complaint, the accused has been identified as Deepak Sharma, the general secretary of Himachal Pradesh Football Association, an executive committee member of the AIFF, the deputy chairperson of the competition committee and chairperson of its infrastructure committee.

The complaint filed by Palak Verma and Ritika Thakur alleges that Deepak entered their room in an inebriated state, while they were boiling eggs for dinner. The high-ranking official then allegedly slapped both of them after getting offended.

Notably, Verma and Thakur are part of the women's team that is currently in Goa to take part in the Women’s League 2 — the second division of women’s football in India. Both the footballers play for Khad FC, a team from the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.

Sharma denies the allegations

As the controversy surrounding his name snowballed, Sharma released a statement claiming it was a small issue which was not serious in nature.

“It is all baseless. Someone is trying to provoke them and create an issue out of nothing. She just got eggs from outside around 11 pm. I just scolded her over timings. It was a small issue," Sharma was quoted as saying by India Today.

“It happened on March 28 evening. My wife was with me as well when the incident happened. I had a conversation with AIFF as well and briefed them about everything. There is nothing serious about it,” he added.

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