Delhi High Court grants bail to wrestler Sushil Kumar in murder case

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday granted bail to Olympic wrestler Sushil Kumar in the murder case of former junior national wrestling champion Sagar Dhankar at Chhatrasal Stadium in the national capital.

Justice Sanjeev Narula granted the relief to Sushil and directed him to furnish a personal bond of Rs 50,000 with two sureties of the like amount.

Sushil, and others, are accused of fatally assaulting Dhankar in May 2021 over an alleged property dispute. Two of Dhankar’s friends were also injured in the assault.

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According to the post-mortem report, Dhankar suffered cerebral damage from the impact of a blunt object.

Advocates R S Malik and Sumeet Shokeen, representing Kumar, said the wrestler was in jail for the last three-and-a-half years and the prosecution had cited 222 witnesses whereas only 31 were examined so far.

All the material witnesses have already been examined, the counsel added.

While the prosecution opposed the plea, Malik argued trial would take a long time to conclude and Kumar ought to be granted the reprieve on the ground of delay.

Sushil was arrested in May 2021 and granted interim bail for a week for his knee surgery.

The trial court in October 2022 framed IPC charges of including murder, criminal conspiracy, intimidation and rioting with a deadly weapon against Sushil aside from the Arms Act, among others.

Dhankar, said in the trial court, after being abducted and brought to the stadium and was severely assaulted by several accused persons with baseball and hockey sticks.