New Delhi: Maharaj Kishan Kaushik quit as the national women’s hockey coach on Wednesday after a player accused him of sexually harassing her, according to Hockey India (HI) secretary general Narendra Batra.

Kaushik is known as the Franz Beckenbauer of Indian hockey as he has excelled both as a player and coach in a career spanning over 35 years.

The venerable coach found himself in the centre of controversy when a woman player, Ranjitha Devi of Manipur, filed a complaint with the HI accusing him of seeking sexual favours.

To make matters worse, shocking pictures of the team videographer, Basavraj, was send to the HI from an anonymous e-mail address, showing the Sports Authority of India (SAI) employee in compromising positions with some women during the tour of Canada and China recently. The videographer has already been given the boot.

While Kaushik, who appeared before a four-member enquiry committee on Wednesday, said the entire episode was a pre-planned attempt to malign him, Batra said, beside Ranjitha Devi, 30 players have signed the letter backing the allegation. Ranjitha Devi, who was specially flown in to Delhi, attended the meeting but did not interact with the waiting newspersons.

Batra said the four-member panel would submit its report to HI on Friday, who will, in turn, make its recommendations to SAI, as both the videographer and the coach are SAI employees.

“The panel heard all the parties and they have sought time till Thursday,” the HI boss said. Two former India captains — Zafar Iqbal and Ajitpal Singh — along with Rajiv Mehta (chairman) and Sudharshan Pathak are the members of the committee.

While the report is still awaited at least one member of the committee said he was not too convinced by the allegations and thought it was a weak case. “I am not supporting anyone but I didn’t find the case a strong one. The truth must prevail,” said Zafar Iqbal.

Kaushik, a member of the gold-winning Indian team in Moscow Olympic, also coached the team that won the title in 1998 Asian Games. He has been associated with the women’s hockey for nearly 20 years now.

“I can’t believe someone can stoop so low,” Kaushik told The Telegraph. “The allegation was brought because I did not select her (Ranjitha Devi). I always select a player based on his or her performance. I am never going to compromise on that,” said Kaushik.

The team left for Busan on Wednesday without the chief coach to play the Asian Champions trophy.

HI will also form a five-member committee as per Supreme Court guidelines on sexual harassment cases, said Batra. “As per the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court, we will have a panel in which at least half or more than half the members would be women.

“This would be done by Thursday and hopefully it would give its recommendations before next month’s World Cup in Argentina so that we can either have a new coach or reinstate Kaushik if he is found innocent,” Batra said.

Kaushik, however, said he would never return to take up the coaching job in women’s hockey even if he was absolved of the charges. “I would not like to resume this assignment again,” he said.