Wrestler Sushil Kumar in 6-day police custody

Blurb: Arrested from west Delhi in murder case

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 23

Two-time Olympic medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar, arrested late last night from Mundka in west Delhi, has been remanded to six-day police custody for investigation into his alleged involvement in the death of a 23-year-old wrestler, Sagar Dhankar, earlier this month.

Sushil had been on the run for nearly three weeks and a lookout notice had been issued against him, apart from a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh for information leading to his arrest.

After questioning Sushil for around half-an-hour on the court premises, the Delhi Police sought his custody for 12 days for further interrogation. Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra, however, granted police Sushil’s custody for six days.

Sushil was nabbed by the Delhi Police’s special cell team along with co-accused Ajay in the early hours today. Earlier, it had been reported that he was arrested late on Sunday night “near Jalandhar”.

According to the Delhi Police, Sushil and his associates allegedly assaulted Dhankar and two of his friends, Sonu and Amit Kumar, at Chhatrasal Stadium on the night of May 4.

Dhankar later succumbed to his injuries, and a case was filed on May 5, naming Sushil and his accomplices for murder, criminal conspiracy and abduction. The police alleged that Sushil and a few other wrestlers beat up Dhankar, a Chhatrasal Stadium trainee, and his friends over a property dispute.

Employed with the Indian Railways, Sushil is the chief administrator of Chhatrasal Stadium in his capacity as an Officer on Special Duty on deputation with the Delhi Government.

Sushil had approached a Rohini court earlier this week to seek protection against his arrest. His bail plea was rejected because the allegations against him were deemed to be serious in nature.

A court had also issued a non-bailable warrant against the wrestler.

The police had been raiding various places in the Delhi-NCR and neighbouring states to arrest him. There were reports that he had travelled to Uttarakhand, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to evade arrest.