The incident took place on September 13 in Patiala and the matter was reported to the federation's key officials on September 18.Punjab Police has booked a foreign coach on charges of raping a minor athlete at a training camp in Patiala.The national sports federation with which the coach was employed for training the athletes has confirmed the development and said that the “coach was absconding”, but “they have his passport and other relevant documents in their possession”.The incident took place on September 13 in Patiala and the matter was reported to the federation’s key officials on September 18. One of the senior office bearers of the federation said, “The incident was reported to the federation on September 18 and the same day a complaint was lodged with the police and an FIR was registered within a few hours. We also filed a complaint with the Internal Complaints Committee of the federation for an investigation into the coach’s conduct.” Punjab police officers also said that the coach is “absconding”.Also Read | Who is Ankush Bhardwaj, coach accused of sexual harassment: International medallist, shooter marred by doping controversy, entrepreneur with academiesPatiala City SP said, “When the complained was reported to us, the coach was in Delhi. The federation authorities approached us and informed us that the coach had been absconding after the incident. The FIR was lodged at PS-Civil Lines on September 18 under Section 64 (rape), 352 (intentional insult) of the BNS Act and Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of POCSO Act. We are investigating the case and necessary action is being taken to nab the accused.”Also Read | National archery coach Kuldeep Vedwan gets 5 years in jail for sexually harassing minor athleteThe foreign coach had joined the federation in November, last year. At the time of the FIR, he was in Delhi at a training camp ahead of the Asian Games in Japan.The federation officials said that “after the allegations came to our notice, we revoked the coach’s travel clearance”.Nitin Sharma is an Assistant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story ‘Harmans of Moga’, Nitin has also been a three-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022, 2023 and 2024 respectively. His latest Laadli Award, in November 2025, came for an article on Deepthi Jeevanji, who won India’s first gold medal at the World Athletics Para Championship and was taunted for her unusual features as a child. Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women’s cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships. An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin’s interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin's interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. ... Read MoreStay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on InstagramTags:chandigarhPunjab Police