Haryana Sports Minister Sandeep Singh resigned from his post on Sunday after the Chandigarh police registered a sexual harassment and criminal intimidation case against him based on a complaint made by a junior athletics coach on Friday.
Calling it a false allegation, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politician denied all the charges and told the Indian media that all this is being done to tarnish his image.
"There is an attempt to spoil my image. I hope there will be a thorough investigation into the false allegations levelled against me. I hand over the responsibility of the Sports department to the Chief Minister until the report of the investigation comes out," Singh said on Sunday.
The incident sparked off last week after the victim, a junior athletics coach, accused Singh of sexual misconduct during a press conference.
The coach said that it all started when Singh first saw her at a gym and then contacted her on Instagram.
She claimed that the minister later kept insisting on meeting up.
"He messaged me on Instagram and said my national games certificate is pending and wanted to meet in this regard. Unfortunately, my certificate has been misplaced by my federation and I have been taking it up with the authorities concerned,” she said.
When she agreed to meet the minister and went to his residence-cum-camp office with some other documents, she alleged that the minister engaged in sexual misconduct.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been set up to probe the allegations against the minister.