Suspended from the Indian contingent for allegedly molesting a teenager in the Commonwealth Games Village, Sports Authority of India, Patiala, masseur Diwan Asghar Nabi claimed he just wanted to be photographed with the girl.
Sources revealed that Nabi told Indian Olympic Association officials that he has no other intention when he held the hand of the girl.
Meanwhile, the IOA and local police have decided to provide Nabi legal assistance when he appears in the magistrate's court on Wednesday.
''We strongly condemn Nabi's act, if he has done so. But we can't leave him in the lurch. So the IOA has appointed a lawyer to fight the case,'' chef-de-mission of the Indian contingent H J Dora told United News of India.
Nabi was identified through an identification parade by men of his height and structure.
According to Nabi, he only wanted
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to be photographed with the girl and had placed his hand across her shoulder asking another person to take a snap.The girl had come to change the bed linen and another senior girl was standing outside, he added.
The other girl reportedly shouted, ''What are you doing?'
According to Nabi, that shout triggered panic of sorts among the girls and he was mistaken as molesting the girl. The supervisor soon came rushing with a walkie-talkie in hand and the issue got misinterpreted, he claimed.
UNI