Wrestler murder case: Why is Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar arrested for Sagar Dhankar's death - what we know so far

Sushil Kumar was arrested along with an associate from the Mundka area in the national capital.

"A team of Special Cell SR led by Inspector Shivkumar, Inspector Karambir and supervised by ACP Attar Singh has arrested Sushil Kumar and Ajay from Mundka area of Delhi in connection with the killing of 23-year-old Sagar Dhankar at Chhatrasal Stadium. Wrestler Sushil Kumar has been arrested by a team of Special Cell," Neeraj Thakur, Special CP-Special Cell, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

On the night of 4 May, Sagar, who used to compete in the 97 kg Greco-Roman category, was murdered in a scuffle involving two groups outside the Chhatrasal Stadium - a training centre run by Sushil Kumar's father-in-law, Satpal Singh.

According to reports, Sagar, along with his friends, Sonu Mahal and Amit Kumar, were allegedly beaten up by around 20 men armed with hockey sticks and baseball bats.

Sagar succumbed to his concussion injuries early on Wednesday morning, while Sonu and Amit were undergoing treatment at the BJRM Hospital.

Police investigation stated that Sagar and his friends were tenants in a house reportedly owned by Sushil near the stadium. They were asked to vacate as Sagar was not able to pay the rent. This led to friction between the two.

While Sagar finally vacated the house four months ago, he allegedly criticised Sushil. The medallist was reported to be angry as Sagar allegedly called him names like 'badmash' in public which tarnished his image, The Print reported.

The Delhi Police soon sprung to action and lodged an FIR on grounds of murder, abduction, criminal conspiracy and launched a search operation to locate Sushil Kumar, who had gone into hiding. 

It was learnt that Sushil left for Haridwar and then Rishikesh after the incident. He was reported to have stayed at an ashram in Haridwar before returning to Delhi and is also constantly shifting base within the capital.

During the investigation, information regarding the death of Sagar and injury to Sonu was received from Trauma Centre, Civil Lines, following which an FIR under Sections 302, 365, 120B of the IPC was registered.

"We have recorded statements of all the victims and they all made allegations against Sushil Kumar," Guriqbal Singh Sidhu, Additional DCP of the North-West district had informed the media. 

"We have lodged an FIR of murder, abduction, criminal conspiracy and are conducting raids to nab Sushil Kumar."

After the Delhi Court had refused to grant anticipatory bail to Sushil Kumar, saying he is prima facie the main conspirator and allegations against him are serious in nature - a picture of him surfaced on social media. He was found sitting on the front seat of a car.

As per Delhi Police, Sushil was clicked at the Meerut toll plaza in Uttar Pradesh. They claim that the picture is from May 6, a day after the murder of Rana. The cops are trying to track his car with the help of this picture.

The preliminary probe saw that the Delhi Police were not able to track the accused wrestler. However, they did manage to get their hands on an alleged assailant and one of Kumar's aides, Prince Dalal. 

During the investigation, the police recovered a video from his phone in which the 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 claimed.

The Delhi Police then issued a Look-out-Circular (LoC) against Sushil. "An LOC has been issued. Teams are also conducting raids in Delhi and the neighboring states. We have possible leads and the suspects will soon be arrested," a senior officer had told the media.

Sushil Kumar had single-handedly pinned Indian wrestling on the world map after winning a bronze medal in the 2008 Beijing games and ending India's 56-year-long medal drought at the Olympics.

However, after his alleged involvement in the murder, India's wrestling reputation has suffered damage. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) is concerned that the prestige acquired over the years has been severely affected due to the incident.

Inquired on if they would axe Sushil from the annual contracts list, WFI Assistant Secretary Vinod Tomar said they "were not mulling any such move as of now" and will wait for the police investigation to run its course.

The Delhi court had even issued non-bailable warrants against the two-time Olympic medallist and six others in connection with the Chhatrasal Stadium brawl. 

A senior police officer informed, "We moved an application before the court to issue a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against wrestler Sushil Kumar and six others in the case, and as per request, the application was approved and accordingly NBWs have been issued against them."

The Delhi Police had announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh on Sushil and of Rs 50,000 on co-accused Ajay, ANI reported. The proposal to announce cash reward was approved by the police headquarters, a senior police officer notified. 

"We are hopeful to get leads about Sushil after announcing the cash reward as he is a public figure and hiding for long at any place will be tough for him," he said.

Wrestler Sushil Kumar had filed an anticipatory bail application at Rohini court in which he argued the investigation against him was biased, and the allegations leveled on him had an ulterior motive.

The application pleaded that the entire investigation was being conducted with "a pre-determined and biased mindset". It also said he was "innocent of all wrongdoings". 

The court was even told the alleged victims in the case "have criminal antecedents", and when Kumar asked them to vacate the property in Model Town which belonged to his wife, they "tried to falsely implicate" him.

The court was also told that the firearms retrieved from a Scorpio car and even the cars which were found at the crime scene were not among his or his family members' possessions. 

Kumar's application also stated that he and his family were under immense financial and mental stress due to the false implication. The court was told there was a delay of 5-6 hours in registering the FIR, and this delay falsely implicated Kumar.

According to police, after they had recorded the statements of all the victims, they said that Sagar and some of his allies, including injured Sonu was henchmen of gangster Kala Jathedi.

"Sonu Mahal is a close associate of gangster Kala Jathedi and was earlier arrested in a robbery and murder case," police sources confirmed.

As for Sushil Kumar's anticipatory bail, after the Delhi Police had urged the court to turn it down, New Delhi's Rohini court on Tuesday dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of two-time Olympic medalist.

While dismissing Sushil Kumar's pre-arrest bail, the judge reasoned that "the allegations against the accused are serious in nature. From the perusal of the record of investigation so far, it reveals that prima facie the accused is the main conspirator".

Further, the judge noted: "The investigation is still going on and some of the accused persons have not been arrested so far. The NBWS [non-bailable warrant] has already been issued against the accused. The Court is not making any observations on the facts as submitted before Court because it is the stage of anticipatory bail and giving any observation may prejudice the parties vice versa.

"So at this stage, the Court is not inclined to grant anticipatory bail to the accused".

According to official police sources, the last location of Sushil Kumar was traced to Punjab's Bathinda on Friday.

Sources have said that several teams have been formed and are conducting raids in several parts of Haryana and Punjab to nab the wrestler.