Women Footballers Allege Assault By Drunk AIFF Official In Hotel Room At Night

Two women footballers of Khad FC, a Himachal Pradesh-based club, have brought some serious allegations against Deepak Sharma, an executive committee member of the All India Football Federation - the governing body of the sport in the country. According to the footballers, Sharma assaulted them in a hotel room during the ongoing Indian Women's League 2 in Goa.  The footballers lodged a complaint with the AIFF on Friday while the assault is said to have taken place on Thursday.

According to the footballers, Sharma was offended because they were preparing food and physically assaulted them. Sharma is general secretary of the Himachal Pradesh Football Association and deputy chairman of the AIFF's competitions committee.

The footballers also said that Sharma was drunk when the incident took place and that he was drinking in front of them while they were travelling from Himachal Pradesh to Goa.

One of the footballers, Palak Verma talked to NDTV about the incident. "That day, I was injured and had brought eggs in my room. At around 10:30-11 pm, I was in the kitchen with another girl, preparing eggs. At that time, sir called us to his room. The other girl went to his room and she was asked about what we were doing. She told him that egg was being prepared. Sir scolded the girl and then called me in. He asked in a rude way on why I was preparing egg and if I was 'special'.

"I explained to him that food had finished and that's why I was preparing egg in the room. He was drunk that time. He told me to throw away the eggs. I started crying and came to my room and banged the door. On hearing that, sir rushed to the room and without knocking entered the room. He came and physically assaulted me. My roommate stopped him and then he