A Delhi court on Saturday issued non-bailable warrants against two-time Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar and nine others in connection with the murder of a 23-year-old former junior national wrestling champion, Sagar Rana. The Delhi Police had earlier issued a look-out-circular (LoC) against the wrestler.
It is learnt that the Delhi Police have also decided to announce a reward for Sushil Kumar’s arrest. The police said they moved an application before the court to issue the NBW against Kumar and they approved of their application. “We also sent a letter to the Delhi government, informing that their official, Sushil Kumar, and his associate, Ajay Kumar, who is a physical education teacher, have been named by the victims. Departmental action should be taken against him,” a senior police officer said.
“After registering an FIR, we served notice to him, but he switched off his phone and has been untraceable since. We also conducted raids at his friends’ residences and now have decided to announce a reward for information leading to his arrest and a file has been placed before senior officers,” police sources said.
Sagar Rana was beaten to death during a brawl at the Chhatrasal Stadium parking area. After the incident, an FIR of murder, abduction and criminal conspiracy was registered against Kumar.
Additional DCP (North-West district) Dr Guriqbal Singh Sidhu had said, “We have recorded statements of all the victims and they all named Sushil Kumar. We are conducting raids to nab him.”
The victims in their statements have also alleged that Kumar and his associates abducted Sagar from his house in Model Town to teach him a lesson for bad mouthing him in front of other wrestlers, police said.
On May 4, Sagar Rana, who had competed in the 97-kg Greco-Roman category, was beaten to death in a clash involving two groups. Rana was a former junior national champion and is part of the senior national camp. “We have found during investigation that a quarrel had allegedly taken place between Sushil Kumar, Ajay, Prince Dalal, Sonu, Sagar, Amit and others in the parking area of the stadium,” Sidhu said.
Police recorded the statements of all the victims during which they said that Sagar and some of his friends, including injured Sonu Mahal, who is a close associate of gangster Kala Jathedi, were staying in a house linked to Sushil near the stadium. “They had been asked to vacate recently and were removed from the house forcefully. Sushil later came to know that Sagar had started bad mouthing him in the Chhatrasal Stadium in front of other wrestlers and also threatened him of dire consequences,” a senior police officer said.
Police said that during the investigation, they also found a recorded video of the incident from the mobile phone of accused Prince Dalal, in which faces of all the attackers can be seen. “Dalal was arrested from the spot and we seized his cellphone, two double barrel guns along with seven live cartridges of 12 bore from his possession. After investigation, we have found that the guns were registered in the name of one resident of Ashoda village in Haryana’s Jhajjar,” police sources said.
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