Railways to suspend murder accused wrestler Sushil Kumar

New Delhi: The Northern Indian Railway is said to have decided to suspend Olympian wrestler Sushil Kumar who has been arrested and sent to police custody in connection with the murder of former junior national wrestling champion Sagar Dhankha at the Chhatrasal Stadium in Delhi.

The two-time Olympic medallist Kumar, who is a senior commercial manager with the Northern Railway, was posted by the Delhi government as an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) at Chhatrasal Stadium for the development of sports at the school level.

On the run for nearly three weeks, Kumar was arrested a day ago for his alleged involvement in the death of a 23-year-old wrestler at Chhatrasal Stadium, along with co-accused Ajay from outer Delhi's Mundka area.

A PTI report said that the Railway Board received a report on the case on Sunday from the Delhi government. "Sushil Kumar will be suspended as he has FIRs registered against him", the report quoted Northern Railway CPRO Deepak Kumar saying.

According to sources, an official order suspending the wrestler will be issued in a couple of days

On Sunday, Duty Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra had sent Sushil Kumar and his associate Ajay Kumar for 6 days police custody remand

Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava appeared on behalf of the Prosecution whereas Advocate Satwik Misra appeared for Sushil Kumar.

APP Atul Shrivastava while seeking 12 days police custody remand, according to a Live Law report, submitted before the Court that some CCTV footages, an alleged weapon used for committing the offences and also the mobile phones have to be recovered by the Police. Moreover, Shrivastava submitted that since the accused has to be taken to various States for the purpose of interrogation, 12 days of police custody remand is required owing to the covid guidelines.

On the other hand, Advocate Satwik Misra appearing for Sushil Kumar submitted before the Court that the fact that non-bailable warrants were issued against the other accused persons shows that the Police has already identified all of them.

Moreover, it was submitted that the Police cannot ask for his custody for the purpose of identification of other persons when he has stated that he was falsely being implicated in the case.

Observing that Kumar is a prima facie main conspirator in the case, Additional Sessions Judge Jagdish Kumar ordered a 6-day police custody remand.

Sushil Kumar was arrested by Delhi Police on Sunday morning. His associate, Ajay Kumar, a physical education teacher at Chhatrasal Stadium, has also been arrested and the Police made their arrest from the Mundka area.

Earlier this week, a Delhi Court had rejected the anticipatory bail plea moved by Sushil Kumar in connection with the case.

The Delhi Police had registered an FIR under sec. 302 (punishment for murder) and sec. 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 365, 325, 323, 341,506, 188, 269, 34 and 120B of IPC along with sec. 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act.

Former junior national wrestling champion Sagar Dhankhar, who had been training at the iconic Chhatrasal Stadium, died while two of his friends got injured after they were allegedly assaulted by Sushil Kumar and some other wrestlers on May 4, at the Chhatrasal Stadium premises in Delhi.