Sagar Dhankar murder case: Olympic wrestler Sushil Kumar denied bail by Delhi court

Kumar had sought relief from the court asserting that police built a false case against him and presented a "guilty image" of him. Additional Sessions Judge Shivaji Anand refused to grant relief to Kumar after hearing the arguments of both the prosecution and defense at length.

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New Delhi: Bad news awaited  Olympic medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar as a Delhi court on Tuesday (October 5) denied him bail in the Chhatrasal Stadium murder case. Additional Sessions Judge Shivaji Anand refused to grant relief to Kumar after hearing the arguments of both the prosecution and defense at length.

Kumar had sought relief from the court asserting that police built a false case against him and presented a "guilty image" of him. The 38-year-old wrestler was arrested on May 23 and is lodged in jail since June 2, 2021.

Delhi court denies bail to Olympic medallist, wrestler Sushil Kumar in Chhatrasal Stadium murder case

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 5, 2021

Kumar, along with others, allegedly assaulted former junior national wrestling champion Sagar Dhankar and his friends at the stadium in May over an alleged property dispute. Dhankar succumbed to the injuries later.  According to the post-mortem report, he died due to the "cerebral damage resulting from blunt object impact."

Earlier, an investigation done by the Zee News team has brought to the fore the inside story behind the Chhatrasal Stadium brawl and subsequent murder of wrestler Sagar Rana. According to police sources, wrestler Sushil Kumar owns a flat in the Model Town area, which is registered in his wife’s name.  This flat was given on rent to Junior National Wrestler Sagar Dhankhar through a broker. Besides Sagar Dhankhar, his companions were also using the flat. Sagar Dhankhar, who had links with gangster Sandeep aka Kala Jhatedi, was not paying the flat’s rent and often threatened Sushil Kumar.

Amid all this, Sushil Kumar came to know that Sagar Dhankhar had given shelter to gangster Kala Jhatedi and his henchmen in his flat, who were using this for their stay in Delhi and operating their gang and other their criminal activities from there. Sushil Kumar then asked Sagar Dhankhar to vacate the flat through a broker. Under pressure from Sushil Kumar, Sagar Dhankhar finally vacated the flat but without paying two months' rent.

Irked with this, Sushil Kumar and his close aides kidnapped Sagar Dhankhar and two of his teammates on the intervening night of May 4 and May 5 and took them to the Chhatrasal Stadium. After a heated argument, Sushil Kumar and his friends badly thrashed Sagar Dhankar and one of his close friends Sonu Mahal, nephew of gangster Kala Jhatedi. Sushil also asked Prince (his friend) to make the video in which Kumar and his associates were seen thrashing Sagar Rana and his two friends – Sonu and Amit Kumar.

Sagar Dhankar sustained serious head injuries and later died at the hospital. 

(With Agency inputs)