Wrestlers' protest: Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia booked after scuffle with police
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi Police booked wrestlers Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia along with their supporters on charges of rioting and obstructing public servant in discharge of duty after they were detained while marching to the new Parliament building on Sunday.
The police said 700 people were detained across Delhi, including 109 protesters at Jantar Mantar.
Reacting to the development, Vinesh Phogat said while it took the Delhi Police seven days to register an FIR against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, it didn't even take seven hours to book those who were holding a protesting "peacefully".
The wrestlers had been protesting at Jantar Mantar against Singh since April 23 demanding his arrest for alleged sexual harassment of seven women grapplers, including a minor.
"The FIR has been registered at Parliament Street police station under New Delhi district against the organisers of the protest, including wrestlers Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sangeeta Phogat, and others who were part of the scuffle that took place at Jantar Mantar today with the police," a senior police officer said.
The FIR has been registered under sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the officer said.
Sections 352 (assault or criminal force otherwise than on grave provocation), 147 (rioting) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the IPC and Section 3 (mischief causing damage to public property) of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act have also been invoked, he said.
Vinesh Phogat criticised the Delhi Police for filing the FIR against the protesters.
"It takes seven days for the Delhi Police to register an FIR against Brij Bhushan, who has sexually assaulted (female wrestlers), and it didn't take even seven hours to register an FIR against us for protesting peacefully. Has dictatorship started in this country? The whole world is watching how the government is treating its players. A new history is being written," the world championship medallist tweeted in Hindi.
Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia were among those detained after a scuffle with security personnel who tried to stop them from marching to the new Parliament building as it was being inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Wrestlers and police personnel shoved and pushed each other when Vinesh Phogat, her cousin sister Sangeeta Phogat and Sakshi Malik tried to breach the barricades.
Immediately after the wrestlers were pushed into buses and taken to different locations, the police personnel began clearing the protest site at Jantar Mantar, removing cots, mattresses, coolers, fans and the tarpaulin ceiling along with other belongings of the wrestlers.
All the female wrestlers who were detained have been released and the male wrestlers will also be released soon, a senior officer had earlier said.
Taking to Twitter, Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik, however, vowed to continue their sit-in at Jantar Mantar.
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Media dinner shooting suspect wrote about targeting of administration officials, Trump says
Washington (AP): The man accused of trying to storm the ballroom at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner with guns and knives had written about targeting Trump administration officials, and his family raised concerns with law enforcement before the event, President Donald Trump said Sunday in an interview on Fox News Channel.
The accused gunman's family had alerted police in Connecticut, Trump said, revealing new details about a chaotic encounter that disrupted one of Washington's glitziest annual events the night before.
The suspect, identified by law enforcement officials as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, was expected to face criminal charges on Monday from the Justice Department, whose acting leader, Todd Blanche, said the suspect travelled by train from California and checked in as a guest days earlier at the Washington hotel where the Saturday night gala dinner was held with its typically tight security.
Law enforcement officials who have interviewed Allen's relatives, examined the gunman's electronic devices and his writings preliminarily believe he intended to target administration members in attendance at the dinner.
He attempted to charge into the cavernous ballroom at the Washington Hilton but was tackled to the ground in a violent scene that resulted in shots being fired, Trump being hurried off the stage and guests ducking for cover beneath their tables.
“It does appear that he did in fact set out to target folks who work in the administration, likely including the president,” Blanche told NBC's “Meet the Press.”
The suspect is believed to have purchased the two firearms he carried within the last couple of years, Blanche said. He is not being cooperative and is expected to face multiple charges on Monday.
Video posted by Trump showed the suspect running past security barricades as Secret Service agents ran toward him. One officer was shot in a bullet-resistant vest but was recovering, officials said. The gunman was taken into custody and was not injured, but was being evaluated at a hospital, police said.
“He failed,” Blanche said on CBS's “Face the Nation.” “Law enforcement did their jobs.”
Authorities believe the suspect fired the shot that hit the Secret Service officer, who is expected to make a full recovery, Blanche said.
“He's going to be great, he's going to be fine, and thank God he was wearing a bulletproof vest,” Blanche said Sunday on ABC's “This Week.”
Social media posts that appear to match the suspect show he is a highly educated tutor and amateur video game developer.
A May 2025 profile photo of Allen appears to match the appearance of the man in a photo of the alleged attacker being taken into custody that was posted Saturday night by Trump.
The photo, posted to the social networking site LinkedIn, shows him in a cap and gown after graduating with a master's degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills.
Allen earned a bachelor's degree in 2017 in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He listed his involvement there in a Christian student fellowship and a campus group that battled with Nerf guns.
The shooting at the security barricades happened minutes after the event got underway.
The Secret Service and other authorities swarmed the room as guests ducked under tables by the hundreds. Gasps echoed through the ballroom as guests realised something was happening. Hundreds of journalists immediately got on phones to call in information.
“Out of the way, sir!” someone yelled. Others yelled to duck. From one corner, a “God Bless America” chant began as the president was escorted offstage. Outside the hotel, members of the National Guard and other authorities flooded the area as helicopters circled overhead.
After an initial attempt to resume the event, it was scrapped for the night and will be rescheduled.
Trump was unusually conciliatory after what he saw as a third attempt on his life in less than two years. He suggested that his personal politics had made him a repeated target, but he also called for unity and bipartisan healing in an increasingly violent world.
“It's always shocking when something like this happens. Happened to me, a little bit. And that never changes,” Trump told reporters in a hastily organised news conference at the White House late Saturday.
