‘Hunted Him Like Wild Pigs’ How Sushil Kumar’s Bail Hearing Became A ‘Crime Patrol’ Episode

On Tuesday, Indian wrestler Sushil Kumar made his first attempt at requesting bail in the murder case of 27-year old junior wrestler Sagar Dhankar and running away from the police.

Kumar’s advocate, Pradeep Rana accused the Delhi Police of fabricating the evidence and trying their best to portray a wrong image of his client. “In this case, twelve persons were present and none of them made a statement against me (Kumar). They make a statement after a delay of weeks and in some cases a month. This is because the police are trying to conceal something,” Rana said in a statement on behalf of the Olympian.

The video that is being claimed to have been shot when Sagar Dhankhar was allegedly beaten up by Sushil Kumar and others. Sagar succumbed to his injuries next morning. pic.twitter.com/MGTYpKlSQm

— Rahul Rawat (@rawatrahul9) May 27, 2021

He further accused the Delhi Police of relying on supplementary statements of the witnesses in order to fool-proof their original statements. He also stated that the head constable who claims to have brought Dhankar’s body to the hospital after the alleged beating he took at the hands of Kumar, was not even present at the hospital.

Kumar’s lawyer also said that Dhankar’s dying declaration was “up in the air” and further questioned the reasons behind a sub-inspector’s 40-day delay in giving his statement.

Sushil Kumar (face wrapped in a towel) arrested by Delhi Police Special Cell this morning. pic.twitter.com/Pc5DiLd2yx

— Rahul Rawat (@rawatrahul9) May 23, 2021

Special Public Prosecutor Atul Kumar Srivastava began his rebuttal by reading out loud the opinion shared by a forensic assistant on Sushil Kumar’s behaviourism after being arrested for the murder. He read that Sushil “showed no signs of remorse or guilt” and “was extremely ego-centric and he behaved as he thought that he is above the law”.

Night CCTV footage of Olympic medalist #SushilKumar being intercepted by @CellDelhi sleuths and later arrested for his alleged role in the murder of 23 year old ex junior national champion wrestler Sagar. pic.twitter.com/Vj5n8N0xc5

— Pramod Kumar Singh (@SinghPramod2784) May 23, 2021

He went on to explain the reason behind the delay in the sub-inspector’s statement by stating that the police officer was dealing with a severe medical issue. Srivastava further added that a statement must be recorded even if a person comes up with it after years of the crime taking place.

“They were behaving like wild animals on a hunt. They hunted him (Sagar) like wild pigs. He was flailing on the floor while they mercilessly beat him,” Srivastava told the court.

A #Delhi court rejected the bail plea filed by wrestler #SushilKumar who is currently lodged in a jail over a murder case.

The 38-year-old Kumar is accused of assaulting another wrestler Sagar Dhankar over an alleged property dispute. Later, Dhankar succumbed to his injuries. pic.twitter.com/8ESk0YcIxk

— IANS Tweets (@ians_india) October 5, 2021

While the court did ask Prosecutor Srivastava to stick to the facts and evidence of the cases in his rebuttal, it was also decided by the judge that Kumar’s bail plea would be denied.