Monday, 24 May 2021 | Shekhar Singh | New Delhi
Two-time Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar and his associate were arrested by the Southern range of Delhi Police’s Special Cell on Sunday from Mundka area in connection with the murder of a 23-year-old budding wrestling champion Sagar Dhankar. Meanwhile, the Rohini Court sent the wrestler and his associate to six days’ police custody for interrogation.
Kumar was on the run for nearly 20 days and he was continuously changing his location to evade arrest. Sources also said that the wanted gangster, Sandeep alias Kala Jathedi, who is Sagar Dhankar’s maternal uncle was also looking for Kumar.
According to Pramod Singh Kushwah, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Special Cell, on Sunday, a team of the Special Cell, led by Inspector Shivkumar, Inspector Karambir and supervised by Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Attar Singh arrested the 38-year-old Kumar and Ajay alias Sunil (28) from Mundka.
“He was on a scooty with Ajay when the police team nabbed him,” said a senior police officer, adding that Kumar accepted that he was present at the crime spot.
While seeking his custody for interrogation, police also stated that the camera at the stadium was dismantled and Kumar took away the DDR (video records) of the crime scene, which have to be recovered from him.
The case relates to the May 4 incident at the stadium in which Sagar Dhankar died and two of his friends, Sonu and Amit Kumar, were injured after they were allegedly assaulted by Kumar and other wrestlers. The Delhi Police had announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for information leading to the arrest of Kumar. Another reward of Rs 50,000 was announced for Ajay’s arrest.
A wrestler told The Pioneer on the condition of anonymity that Kumar was afraid of being caught by the members of the Jathedi gang. “Sushil had contacted Jathedi but the talks between them were inconclusive. Jathedi had also threatened to kill him and others involved in the incident,” he said. He also claimed that Kumar had harboured Jathedi in one of his flats in Delhi a long time ago.
Police said that Kumar had been travelling between Delhi, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana while trying to evade arrest. The champion wrestler had spent May 5 and 6 at a yoga guru’s ashram in Haridwar, sources said.
During his bid to evade arrest, the wrestler kept switching his mobile phone off and made WhatsApp calls to connect with his aides. It is also suspected that he was helped by his friends and some gangsters to stay off the grid.
