Ex-coach held for murder of woman weightlifter

Sunit Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, February 22

The police have arrested Bhagat Singh, a former weightlifting coach at Rjiv Gandhi sports complex in Rohtak, for the murder of a woman weightlifter of Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.

DSP Sajjan Singh said the accused had been nabbed by a team led by CIA-2 wing in-charge Naresh Kumar and SHO (Sadar) Inspector Shamsher Singh from Haridwar yesterday. He was produced before a local court today, which remanded him in police custody for two days.

The body of the woman weightlifter was found lying along a canal near Dhamar village in Rohtak district on February 18. The woman was nearly 35 years old and her throat had been slit with some sharp-edged weapon.

As per the police investigation, the woman, who had divorced her husband, came in contact with weightlifting coach Bhagat Singh of Mahra village in Sonepat district during a sports event in Bhopal in 2016.

In June 2018, the woman lodged a complaint at Urban Estate police station in Rohtak, alleging that Bhagat Singh had raped her. Bhagat Singh was arrested and later released on bail in the case, which is pending at a Rohtak court.

In September 2018, the woman lodged another complaint with the police at Bhopal, accusing Bhagat Singh of threatening her. Bhagat Singh was again arrested and released on bail.

The investigation revealed that Bhagat Singh went to Bhopal on February 16 to appear before a court in connection with the case against him. He convinced the woman to accompany her to Rohtak, probably on the pretext of marrying her.

However, he took her to a secluded spot along a canal on his motorcycle, where he allegedly killed her with a knife and fled the scene.