Olympic wrestler Sushil Kumar to remain behind bars in Chhatrasal Stadium murder case

NEW DELHI:  A court on Tuesday, October 5, 2021, denied bail to Olympic medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar in the Chhatrasal Stadium murder case. Additional Sessions Judge Shivaji Anand refused to grant relief to Kumar after hearing the arguments of both the prosecution and defence at length.

Kumar had sought relief from the court asserting that police built a false case against him and presented a “guilty image” of him. Delhi police had earlier informed the court that a supplementary charge sheet will be filed soon. “It is submitted by Inspector Mangesh Tyagi that supplementary charge sheet qua the remaining accused persons shall be filed soon,” said Anand.

The first charge sheet which was filed by the police on August 2, named 13 accused, including Sushil Kumar who was named as the ‘main’ accused. There are a total of 17 accused in the alleged murder case, as per the police. 

Kumar, along with others, had allegedly assaulted former junior national wrestling champion Sagar Dhankar and his friends at the stadium in May over an alleged property dispute. Dhankar later succumbed to the injuries. In the first charge sheet, the police said that the brawl at the stadium was the result of a conspiracy hatched by Sushil Kumar, who wanted to re-establish his supremacy among younger wrestlers. 

The police relied on the oral declaration of the deceased, scientific evidence including locations of the accused, CCTV footage, weapons, and vehicles recovered from the spot in the final report. The police had filed an FIR against the accused of offences such as murder, attempt to murder, culpable homicide, robbery, among others.