Sushil Kumar, three times gold medal winner in the Commonwealth Games, the only wrestler in the country to win the Olympic medal twice, is now in the news as a murder accused.The wrestler was awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the country’s highest sporting honour and Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour. Now, the Olympic champion becomes the murder accused of junior national wrestling champion Sagar Dhankhar. In this article, we will see his journey from becoming a national star to a murder accused.
Early life:
Sushil was Born in Najafgarh, Delhi.He was 14 years old when he started training at Chhatrasal Stadium in Model Town. The financial condition of his family was not very sound. But the young boy was good enough in his forte. One medal after another was claimed by him. His journey started from Junior Championship, Asian Championship, Commonwealth and culminated at Olympics.
By 2012, Sushil Kumar had touched the pinnacle of wrestling. The story of his fall started from here.Today Sushil Kumar is behind bars in a murder case.
His career:
Sushil Kumar’s rise starts in 1998. He then won the Gold Medal at the World Cadet Games. Two years later, in the Junior Championship at Asia level, Sushil bagged the gold. After this, he grabbed gold at the Asian Wrestling Championship and then in Commonwealth Championship.
Till this time, hisluck in the Olympics remains bad but he managed to win gold in other tournaments. It was enough that the government awarded Sushil Kumar the Arjuna Award. Then came the 2008 Olympics. Sushil Kumar won the bronze in this. In 2011, the government honoured him with the Padma Shri. This was the time when it was a matter of great pride for India to win even a single medal in the Olympics.At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Sushil created history by winning the Silver Medal. He is the only Indian who won two Olympic medals.
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Became star in the country
After his great success, Indian railways employed him at a Managerial post. Sushil Kumar became a role model after 2012. Every young wrestler saw him as an ideal. One of these was Sagar Dhankhar.
His connection with Sagar
Satpal Singh, Sushil’s father-in-law, who runs the school of wrestling at Chhatrasal Stadium, was also impressed by Sagar. Sagar was given a room in the hostel. His training started. Sagar was a great wrestler. Won many medals in the country and abroad.
It is being told that the fight took place over a property dispute. Sushil was pressurizing Sagar and his friends to evict the house. Also, Sagar was not paying the rent of that house. At the same time, The Print published a report on 7 May. The report says that the police investigation revealed that Sagar had openly called Sushil a crook. Sushil was angry with Sagar because he felt that Sagar was tarnishing his image. So he wanted to teach him a lesson.
The incident:
According to the police, late on May 4, Sushil and his companions abduct Sagar and his friends from the flat in Delhi’s Model Town police station area. Then Sagar was beaten up after taking him to Chhatrasal Stadium. According to media reports, the police have also recovered CCTV footage of the stadium. In it, Sushil was seen hitting Sagar and his friends with a hockey stick.
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According to the police, firing also took place during the skirmish between two groups of wrestlers in the parking area of Chhatrasal Stadium. 5 wrestlers were injured in this. These included Sagar (23), Sonu (37), Amit Kumar (27) and 2 other wrestlers.
Sources in the Delhi Police said that a video of the deceased Sagar was also recorded during the beating. The purpose of making the video was that the accused Sushil Kumar should have influence in his circuit and no one can oppose him. According to the information, Sushil had asked Prince to make a video of the incident, but Sagar succumbed to injuries. After this, the accused fled. Sagar died while undergoing treatment in the hospital. He was the son of a head constable in the Delhi Police.
Delhi Police kept a reward of 1 lakh after Sushil fled
Sushil Kumar disappeared after being accused ofSagar’s murder. He shifted his locations across 5 states. Delhi Police announced a cash reward of one lakh rupees on Sushil. On May 15, the court issued a non-bailable warrant against Sushil Kumar. Then on behalf of Sushil, a petition for interim bail was filed in Rohini district court through advocate Kumar Vaibhav.
The court dismissed the petition on 18 May. Sushil’s lawyer argued that “an attempt is being made to tarnish the image through baseless allegations”. The police said that Sushil is the main accused in this case, who has an important role in this crime.
Police arrested Sushil from Mundka
According to PS Kushwaha, Deputy Commissioner of Special Cell of Delhi Police, Sushil Kumar has been arrested from Mundka along with his associate Ajay alias Sunil. There was a reward of Rs 50,000 on Ajay’s arrest as well.
Sushil’s connection with controversies is not new
For the first time, Sushil Kumar has been charged with serious murder, but this is not the only accusation. According to some reports, Sushil Kumar had even taken the contract for a toll of MCD, for which he was in touch with gangsters to run it.
Besides, during the 2017 Commonwealth Games Trial, a fight took place between supporters of Sushil Kumar and wrestler Praveen Rana.
Before this case, the biggest controversy related to Sushil Kumar took place in the 2016 Olympics. In the 74 kg category, there was a tough fight between Sushil Kumar and Mumbai wrestler Narsingh Yadav. Sushil could not participate in the Olympic qualifiers while Narsingh qualified by winning bronze at the World Wrestling Championship. The Kushti Federation said that they would conduct a trial between the two wrestlers but later refused. Sushil Kumar went to court but his efforts went in vain.
Kushti Federation chose Narasingh as he had qualified. But Narasingh is found positive in the dope test that took place 10 days before the Olympics. The National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) later gave a clean chit but the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) not only prevented Narsingh from participating in the Olympics but also suspended him for four years. Narasimha alleged that Sushil Kumar adulterated his food and drink.