Sagar Dhankar murder case: Delhi court takes cognizance of chargesheet filed against Olympic medalist, wrestler Sushil Kumar

Sushil Kumar and others had allegedly assaulted Sagar Dhankar and his friend at the stadium on the intervening night of May 4 and 5 over an alleged property dispute, following which he succumbed to his injuries.

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Friday took cognizance of the charge sheet filed against Olympic medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar and 12 others in Sagar Dhankar murder case.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Satvir Singh Lamba took cognizance and posted the matter to August 20 for supply of copies of the final report to all the accused.

Kumar and others had allegedly assaulted Dhankar and his friend at the stadium on the intervening night of May 4 and 5 over an alleged property dispute. Sagar succumbed to the injuries later.

On August 3, the Delhi Police had filed a charge sheet in the murder case, in which it named the Olympic wrestler as the main accused.

The police said that the brawl at the stadium was the result of a conspiracy hatched by Kumar, who wanted to re-establish his supremacy among younger wrestlers.

In the charge sheet, the police relied on the oral dying declaration of the deceased, scientific evidence including locations of the accused, CCTV footage, weapons, and vehicles recovered from the spot.

"From the material collected during the investigation so far precisely mentioned above, there is sufficient material against the accused persons," it stated, seeking their prosecution under 22 offences, including murder, of the Indian Penal Code.

The charge sheet mentions the names of 155 prosecution witnesses, including four persons who were injured during the brawl.

The Delhi Police had filed an FIR against the accused for offences such as murder, attempt to murder, culpable homicide, criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, robbery, rioting among others.