Wrestler murder case: Probe reveals victims beaten for 40 minutes by Sushil Kumar, others

New Delhi, August 3

Olympic medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar and his associates beat up former junior national wrestling champion Sagar Dhankar and others with sticks, hockey and baseball bat for 30-40 minutes after bolting the gate of Chhatrasal Stadium from inside, according to the Delhi Police charge sheet in the murder case.

Dhankar and his four friends were allegedly assaulted by Kumar and others at the stadium on the intervening night of May 4 and 5 over a property dispute. Sagar succumbed to injuries later.

Police investigation showed that Sagar and his friends were kidnapped from two different locations in Delhi and brought to the stadium, following which its gate was locked from inside, and the security guards were asked to leave.

“At the stadium, all the victims were confined and beaten mercilessly by all the accused. All the victims were beaten for around 30-40 minutes with 'lathis', 'dandas', hockey sticks, baseball bats, etc,” the police said in the final report, which runs into over 1,000-pages.

The Crime Branch, which is tasked with investigating the case, also revealed that some of the accused carried firearms and threatened the victims with dire consequences.

Meanwhile, one of the victims managed to escape from the spot and made a call to the police, following which the local police and PCR van staff reached the stadium.

“As the accused heard the voice of the police siren, they took Sagar and Sonu to the basement of the stadium. The accused left both the victims injured there and ran away from the spot,” the probe reveals.

According to the post-mortem report, the cause of Dhankar's death was “cerebral damage resulting from blunt object impact”.

Five vehicles were seized from Kumar and his associates. A double-barrel gun and five live cartridges were also recovered from the back seat of one of the vehicles.

On Monday, the Crime Branch filed a charge sheet against Kumar and 12 others in the murder case, in which it named the Olympic wrestler as the main accused.

In the charge sheet, the police relied on the oral dying declaration of the deceased, scientific evidence including locations of the accused, CCTV footage, weapons, and vehicles recovered from the spot.

“From the material collected during the investigation so far precisely mentioned above, there is sufficient material against the accused persons,” it stated, seeking their prosecution under 22 offences of the Indian Penal Code. 

The charge sheet mentions the names of 155 prosecution witnesses, including four persons who were injured during the brawl.

Delhi Police had filed an FIR against the accused for offences such as murder, attempt to murder, culpable homicide, criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, robbery, rioting among others. PTI

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