Junior wrestler murder: Charge sheet filed against India Olympian, others

INDIA'S two-time Olympic medallist 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 the bolting the gate of the Chhatrasal Stadium in New Delhi from inside, a charge sheet by the Delhi Police has said.

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

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Police investigation showed that Sagar and his friends were abducted from two different spots in the national capital and brought to the stadium, following which the gates were closed 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 'lathi', 'dandas', hockey, baseball bat, etc,” the police said in the final report, which runs into more than 1,000-pages.

The crime branch, which is investigating the case, said that some of the accused persons carried firearms and threatened the victims with dire consequences.

One of the victims managed to escape and called the police, following which officers reached the stadium. “As the accused listened to the voice of the police siren, they took the deceased Sagar and injured Sonu to the basement of the stadium. Accused persons left both the victims injured there and ran away from the spot,” the probe revealed.

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 and a double-barrel gun and five live cartridges were also found from the back seat of one of the vehicles.

Charge sheet filed against Kumar, 12 others

On Monday (2), the crime branch filed a charge sheet against Kumar and 12 others in the murder case, in which it named the Olympic medal-winning 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 said, seeking their prosecution under 22 offences of the Indian Penal Code.

The Delhi Police had filed an FIR against the accused for offences such as murder, attempt to murder, culpable homicide, kidnapping, robbery and others.