SC Orders Olympian Sushil Kumar to Surrender, Cancels Bail in Murder Case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday cancelled the bail of Olympic medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar in connection with the 2021 murder of junior national champion Sagar Dhankar, directing him to surrender within seven days.

A Bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Prashant Kumar Mishra overturned the Delhi High Court’s March order granting Kumar bail, acting on a petition filed by Dhankar’s father.

Kumar is accused of leading an assault on Dhankar and his friends Sonu and Amit Kumar in the parking lot of Delhi’s Chhatrasal Stadium on May 4, 2021, allegedly over a property dispute. Dhankar, a resident of Rohtak in Haryana, later succumbed to his injuries.

The Olympian evaded arrest for 18 days, moving through Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Haryana before being caught in Delhi’s Mundka area. Police said he was there to collect cash and had borrowed a scooter from another national-level athlete.

Arrested on June 2, 2021, Kumar was suspended from his railway job. In October 2022, a Delhi court framed charges against him and 17 others under IPC sections for murder, rioting and criminal conspiracy. The charge sheet named him as the mastermind behind the crime.

Kumar, one of India’s most decorated wrestlers, won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and a silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics.