Asian Games gold medalist Varun Kumar booked under POCSO Act in Bengaluru

Indian national hockey player Varun Kumar has been charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in Bengaluru. A 22-year-old woman registered an FIR against the athlete on charges of rape.

The woman accused Varun of rape on the ruse of a marriage promise, as per multiple reports. She alleged that she met the player on the social media platform Instagram when she was 17.

They used to meet each other often and the woman also alleged that Varun had sexual intercourse with her when he was in Bengaluru for training at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) center, as reported by news agency NNIS Sports.

According to a report by India Today, police officials are in search of 28-year-old Varun Kumar. A team of cops are in Punjab's Jalandhar to trace him.

The shocking news came just a day after Varun Kumar was served a letter by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwat Singh Mann to join the Punjab Police Services (PPS) among eight other hockey players.

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Varun Kumar's journey to hockey

Varun Kumar moved to Punjab from Himachal Pradesh to fulfil his dreams of a promising career in field hockey. He represented Punjab at the Junior National Championship in 2012 in Lucknow.

Based on his impressive performance in the tournament, he was selected for the U-21 team for the 2016 Junior Hockey World Cup in Lucknow as a defender and drag-flicker.

Varun has been a regular member of the Indian men's hockey team ever since he made his debut in 2017. He was a member of India's bronze medal campaign at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021) and part of their silver medal team at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022.

Varun was also in the team led by Harmanpreet Singh that won the gold medal at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games last year in the September-October window.