In a major development to the Sagar Dhankar murder case, a sundry of charges have been framed against the Olympic champion and India's star wrestler Sushil Kumar by a Delhi court.
The Delhi court has slapped charges of murder, attempt to murder, rioting, unlawful assembly and other sections including criminal conspiracy on Sushil and 17 others in junior wrestler Dhankar's murder case.
The court has also framed charges against two men who are absconding.
According to the Delhi Police charge sheet in the murder case, Sushil Kumar and his associates beat up former junior national wrestling champion Sagar Dhankar and others with sticks, hockey and baseball bat for 30-40 minutes after bolting the gate of Chhatrasal Stadium from inside.
The police investigation established that it was due to the initial reluctance shown by Sagar and Sonu to vacate Kumar's flat and "murmurs" in the stadium that Kumar was scared of the duo and couldn't withstand them.
Delhi Police had arrested Sushil Kumar from Mundka in May 2021 in connection with the murder of former international wrestler Sagar Dhankar inside Chhatrasal Stadium in North- West Delhi. He was on the run for over a fortnight.
India's star wrestler won a bronze medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and a silver medal in the 2012 London Olympics.
On May 18 last year, Sushil Kumar had approached a court in Delhi's Rohini seeking protection from arrest, claiming that the probe against him was biased and that no injuries caused to the victim were attributable to him. The court, however, dismissed his anticipatory bail plea, saying he was "prima facie the main conspirator" and allegations against him were serious in nature.
Delhi Police had in March this year opposed Sushil Kumar's bail petition in Delhi High Court, saying witnesses in the case are so terrified of the champion wrestler and his associates that one of them had moved the court seeking protection.
In the bail plea, Sushil Kumar emphasised that the police left no stone unturned to present a "false and guilty image" of him and fed false information to the media to wrongfully establish a connection between him and renowned gangsters.
