Olympic Wrestler Sushil Kumar arrested in murder case

India’s two-time Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar was arrested on Sunday morning on charges of his alleged involvement in the murder of a fellow Delhi wrestler.

According to Delhi Police, he had been evading arrest for 20 days. The 37-year-old was arrested from north-west Delhi’s Mundka along with a co-accused, as per reports. They have now been sent to Police custody for the next six days.

“A team of Special Cell led by Inspector Shivkumar, Inspector Karambir and supervised by ACP Attar Singh has arrested Sushil Kumar and Ajay from Mundka area of Delhi in connection with the killing of 23-year-old Sagar Rana at Chhatrasal Stadium,” said PS Kushwah, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell).

As per Police reports, Sushil Kumar and the co-accused assaulted 23-year-old Sagar Rana and his two friends at the Chhatrasal Stadium on May 4. All three of the victims had to be hospitalized and Rana died later on as his injuries were far more serious.

A reward of Rs. 1 Lakh had also been announced by the Delhi Police for information on the hide-outs of Sushil Kumar and his associates, as the accused had been on the run since then.

The Police later on announced another reward of Rs. 50,000 for the arrest of the co-accused Ajay Kumar. The officials had raided several places in Delhi and its surrounding cities, and states, to arrest the Indian wrestling star.

Sushil Kumar, however, had approached the Rohini Court on May 18 seeking protection from arrest. His claim was that the probe going on against him was biased and none of the injuries to the victim could be attributed to him. His anticipatory bail plea, however, was declined by the court as they considered him as the “prima facie the main conspirator” and the allegations against him quite serious in nature.

As a result, non-bailable warrants were issued against Sushil Kumar and his six other associates. A lookout notice was already issued against the wrestler days before the warrants were issued.

This is a serious downfall for the wrestler who won Bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics.