Hockey player Varun Kumar booked

Indian national hockey player Varun Kumar, an Arjuna awardee, has been booked for rape and cheating under POCSO Act.

Indian national team hockey player Varun Kumar, 28, has been booked by the city police for rape and cheating under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, for allegedly sexually assaulting a 17-year-old minor girl in 2019.

Mr. Kumar is an Arjuna awardee and was part of the Indian team that won the gold medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023. He has 141 senior caps and is also a 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games silver medallist.

The complainant, now an airline staffer, was being trained for volleyball at a Sports Authority of India facility in Bengaluru when she reportedly met Mr. Kumar. In her complaint, she said that Mr. Kumar had befriended her on social media and wanted to meet her in person.

But when she turned down his request, she alleged that he emotionally blackmailed her and persuaded her to meet him through his friends. She said the two met and eventually entered into a relationship.

The victim said that the accused took her to the Jayanagar locality in Bengaluru in July 2019 for a dinner date, booked a hotel room on the pretext of chatting, and initiated a physical relationship with her, promising marriage, despite knowing that she was a minor at the time. The victim alleged that over the next five years, Mr. Kumar had a physical relationship with her many times, and took her to many hotels.

She said that Mr. Kumar had come to her house when her father passed away to convey his condolences, and had been avoiding her since then. The victim alleged that when she asked Mr. Kumar to marry her, he allegedly refused and even threatened to make their private videos public on social media.

A senior police official said that a case had been registered against the hockey player on Monday following a complaint by the victim.