In recent updates, a national shooting coach, Ankush Bhardwaj, has been charged after he was accused of allegedly inviting a trainee to his room in a hotel in Surajkund for a ‘focused discussion’ about her match performance. It was reported that he s*xually assaulted her and has been charged under provisions of the Protection of Children from S*xual Offences (POSCO) Act and criminal intimidation under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). in an FIR filed by the Faridabad police. Read to know more about the case here.
About The Case
The incident happened on December 16, 2025; however, the FIR was registered days later on January 6, 2026, after the 17-year-old victim told her mother about the alleged assault. The teenager had been training under Ankush since August 2025 and had travelled to Mohali, Delhi, Dehradun, and Patiala for training. As per the FIR, Bhardwaj called her through WhatsApp on December 16 afternoon after her national match at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in Delhi’s Tughlakabad.
Reports further alleged that he had asked her to come over to the five-star hotel in Faridabad to analyse the match and that she was making notes of the same, sitting in the lobby of the hotel. This was when Ankush Bhardwaj called her again and told her to come to his room on the third floor, and after discussing the match for a few minutes, he made her lie on the bed to ‘crack her back,’ eventually allegedly assaulting her. He then allegedly threatened to ruin her career if she told anyone about it and asked her to behave normally.
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He then reportedly continued sending her messages for training days and would call her parents as well. The complaint said, “Ankush sir even complained to my parents for not paying attention to him, and my mother even scolded me for it. I lost my sleep, and my mother would often inquire about my stress.” On January 6, 2026, the first-year BBA student dared to tell her mother, who eventually took her to the police station.
According to Rajiv Bhatia, secretary of the National Rifle Association of India, the coach was suspended after the case was registered. Ankush was employed in 2023, and his contract ran until March of this year, according to Mr Bhatia.
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