On June 25, Vipendra Singh Tomar left Rewa and travelled to Bhopal. He was 31, hired through an acquaintance to work as a cook at a family residence in Neelbad. The job came with a promised monthly salary of Rs 15,000, free food and lodging, and a loosely worded assurance of help in finding government work. Four days later, he walked into Ratibad Police Station with visible injuries on his face and body.
“As soon as I opened the door, both of them, the driver and Shashank, beat me up like a dog. Shashank’s father and sister also joined them and only stopped when they thought I would die.”
Vipendra Singh Tomar, complaint statement to Ratibad Police Station, Bhopal, June 29, 2026
That statement is why this FIR exists. The Ratibad Police registered the case only after a medical examination confirmed the injuries Tomar described. Three people are named in the FIR, registered on June 29, 2026: Punjab Kings cricketer Shashank Singh, his father Shailesh Singh, and their driver, identified as Mishra.
According to the FIR, as accessed by IANS, disputes over the quality of Tomar’s cooking began almost immediately. When he told the family he wanted to leave, he says his phone was taken and he was not permitted to go. He alleges he was confined for three days. On June 28, when he asked for his phone back, he says the assault happened.
He describes locking himself inside a room for safety. He alleges the door was broken open. Per the FIR, the family also transferred Rs 1,000 from Tomar’s own mobile phone before he left, claiming it covered his food and accommodation costs. Tomar told police that officers at the station were initially reluctant to register his complaint. The FIR was filed only after the medical examination confirmed injuries.
Shashank Singh denied every allegation. He spoke to multiple outlets on June 30.
“I believe that anyone who knows me knows that a physical altercation is completely out of the question for me. I hesitate even to use abusive language, so I certainly couldn’t do something like that.”
Shashank Singh, statement to IANS, June 30, 2026
He said Tomar presented himself as a trained cook but admitted on arrival he could not cook. He alleged Tomar spent his time filming private areas of the house, including his own bedroom, and that the recordings appeared to show the locations of valuables. His mother asked Tomar to delete the footage. His sister suggested calling the police. Shashank says he let Tomar go instead.
He also said his father recorded a video of Tomar before he left the property, which Shashank claims shows no visible injury marks on Tomar at that point. Shashank also told IANS that Tomar’s injuries, if any, may have occurred after he left the premises.
In an exclusive interview with India TV, Shashank went further.
“The cook hatched a well-planned conspiracy to defame me. He thought he could make money by damaging my reputation.”
Shashank Singh, exclusive interview, India TV News, June 30, 2026
#WATCH | Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh: On FIR registered against him and his father for allegedly assaulting and verbally abusing a staff member, Punjab Kings Cricketer Shashank Singh says, “No, we didn’t hold him hostage… It is true that he arrived claiming to be a cook, but he… https://t.co/Dr6KawT5YT pic.twitter.com/szZYdHkpSh
— ANI (@ANI) June 30, 2026
Shailesh Singh is a retired Special Director General of Madhya Pradesh Police. Special DG is one of the most senior positions in the state force, the rank from which you have spent decades building relationships across every level of the hierarchy.
Tomar’s allegation that officers were initially reluctant to register his complaint sits alongside that fact. It explains why the medical examination step mattered as much as it did. This was not routine caution. It was Tomar establishing evidence that could not be argued away. IANS tried to reach Shailesh Singh for comment and received no response.
The FIR names three accused under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Section 296(B) covers verbal abuse. Section 115(2) covers voluntarily causing hurt. Section 3(5) covers common intention, which means all three accused share legal liability if any offence is proven, regardless of who individually did what. No arrests have been made.
Additional DCP Anil Sharma confirmed the investigation.
“A complaint was filed by a cook, following which a case involving charges of assault has been registered. The entire matter is under investigation.”
Anil Sharma, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bhopal, IANS, June 30, 2026
Insider Read:
Punjab Kings have not issued a statement. No franchise official has commented. Not a word from the team.
That silence is not indifference. Anyone who has been inside a franchise structure knows exactly what happened the moment this FIR became public. Legal counsel was briefed before the story broke widely. The media team was monitoring every outlet. A collective decision was taken: say nothing. A statement of support looks like endorsing the accused. A statement of concern looks like abandoning him. So the franchise says nothing and lets the player manage his own narrative.
Shashank Singh is out there giving interviews to ANI, IANS, and India TV on his own. That is not a coincidence. That is the franchise telling him, without a single word, that this one is his to handle. What looks like silence from the outside is a deliberate call made in a meeting that never gets reported.
The longer-term question is what this case does to his position going into the next IPL cycle. Most people think about official sanctions when an FIR lands against a player. That is rarely how it actually plays out. Every franchise that was even mildly interested in Shashank at the next auction will now wait to see how this resolves. Not because they have made a decision. Because they can afford to wait. That collective waiting has consequences that never appear in any official ruling.
In Indian cricket, accusations travel faster than facts. The Sreesanth saga showed how an incident away from the ground can become the thing people remember most, long after the episode has faded and long after the courts have spoken. Whether this case is proven or not, it now forms part of the conversation around Shashank Singh.
He came into the 2026 IPL season off two years that should have set him up. 354 runs in 2024. Then 2025, where he scored 350 across the season and, in the final against RCB, walked out and hit 61 not out off 30 balls with Punjab needing a miracle. They fell 6 runs short. He was the last man fighting.
The 2026 season returned 132 runs in 12 games. The form had already become a question before this case arrived.
This FIR does not land at a peak. It lands at an already difficult moment.
All allegations in this article are based on the FIR and public statements made by the parties involved. None have been proven in court.
Sources
- FIR Registered, Ratibad Police Station, Bhopal, June 29, 2026 ETV Bharat
- Vipendra Singh Tomar, statement to media, June 30, 2026 Yahoo Sports
- Shashank Singh, statement to ANI, June 30, 2026 ANI
- Shashank Singh, statement to IANS, June 30, 2026 IANS Live
- Shashank Singh, exclusive interview, India TV News, June 30, 2026 India TV News
- Counter-evidence released by Shashank Singh, June 30, 2026 Republic World
- Anil Sharma, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bhopal, June 30, 2026 IANS Live
- Background on Shailesh Singh, retired Special DGP NewsX
