Indian Olympic medallist arrested over death of fellow athlete after manhunt

Published May 23, 2021
Olympic wrestler Sushil Kumar sits inside a vehicle after he was arrested by police over alleged involvement in the murder of a fellow wrestler in New Delhi on May 23. — AFP
Olympic wrestler Sushil Kumar sits inside a vehicle after he was arrested by police over alleged involvement in the murder of a fellow wrestler in New Delhi on May 23. — AFP

Two-time Olympic wrestling medallist Sushil Kumar was arrested on Sunday, Indian police said, after a week-long manhunt over the alleged murder of a fellow athlete.

Kumar went into hiding after 24-year-old Sagar Dhankad was badly beaten during a brawl between two groups of wrestlers at a stadium in the capital New Delhi on May 4.

Dhankad, a former junior champion who was training as a senior wrestler, later died in hospital.

Kumar was arrested early on Sunday in northwest Delhi with another suspect, Delhi police said. “They were switching their location when they were arrested,” the police officer told AFP.

Police had offered a reward of 100,000 rupees ($1,370) for information leading to the arrest of the 37-year-old star after two of Dhankad's associates injured in the fight named Kumar as one of the attackers.

But Kumar, via his lawyers, had said he was innocent and accused police of a biased investigation.

Kumar is viewed as one of India's finest sportsmen and the only to win two individual Olympic medals — a freestyle wrestling silver at the 2012 London Games and a bronze at the Beijing Olympics four years earlier.

He represented India in international competitions and won three Commonwealth Games golds and one gold at the World Wrestling Championships in Moscow in 2010.

He was awarded India's highest honour for athletes in 2009.

Opinion

Editorial

When medicine fails
18 Nov, 2024

When medicine fails

WHO would have thought that the medicine that was developed to cure disease would one day be overpowered by the very...
Nawaz on India
18 Nov, 2024

Nawaz on India

NAWAZ Sharif is privy to minute details of the Pakistan-India relationship, for, during his numerous stints in PM...
State of abuse
18 Nov, 2024

State of abuse

DESPITE censure from the rulers and society, and measures such as helplines and edicts to protect the young from all...
Football elections
17 Nov, 2024

Football elections

PAKISTAN football enters the most crucial juncture of its ‘normalisation’ era next week, when an Extraordinary...
IMF’s concern
17 Nov, 2024

IMF’s concern

ON Friday, the IMF team wrapped up its weeklong unscheduled talks on the Fund’s ongoing $7bn programme with the...
‘Un-Islamic’ VPNs
Updated 17 Nov, 2024

‘Un-Islamic’ VPNs

If curbing pornography is really the country’s foremost concern while it stumbles from one crisis to the next, there must be better ways to do so.