Non-bailable warrant issued against wrestler Sushil Kumar in Chhatrasal Stadium murder case

Delhi’s Rohini court on Saturday issued non-bailable warrants against two-time Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar in connection with the murder of a 23-year-old former junior national wrestling champion, Sagar Rana.

Sagar Rana, who had been training at the iconic Chhatrasal Stadium, died on May 5, 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.

Sushil Kumar has been on the run since Sagar’s death. An FIR of murder, abduction and criminal conspiracy was registered against the senior wrestler.

On Monday, police issued a ‘Look-out Circular’ (LoC) against Sushil Kumar. Earlier, Delhi Police had returned empty-handed after raiding his house. It has emerged that Sushil went to Haridwar and then to Rishikesh while trying to escape an arrest. Efforts are on to trace him and raids are being conducted in the Delhi-NCR region and neighbouring states to nab him.

Victims in the case have alleged that Sushil Kumar was present at the spot when the incident took place. The victims, in their statements, have alleged that Sushil 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.

The incident has come at a time when Indian wrestling is celebrating its highest number of quotas, eight, for the Tokyo Olympics, slated to get underway in July. There are reports that wrestlers are looking to leave the Chhatrasal Stadium after the incident allegedly involving one of the icons of Indian sport.

Wrestling Federation of India Assistant Secretary Vinod Tomar had told the Press Trust of India that the image of Indian wrestling has taken a hit due to the incident but stressed that the governing body is not mulling to remove the star wrestler from the contracts list.

Sushil was handed an A grade contract in December 2018 along with four others for annual financial support of Rs 30 lakh. However, he has not participated in any international event since his first-round defeat in the 2019 World Championship in Nur Sultan.