On Monday, the Delhi Police announced a reward of Rs. 1 Lakh for anyone who was willing to give any information on the whereabouts of National wrestler Sushil Kumar, who according to multiple sources, has been on the run, after being linked to the murder of a 23-year old wrestler Sagar Rana.

Delhi Police has also issued a Rs. 50,000 reward for information on Kumar’s associate, Ajay Kumar.

#JUSTIN #SushilKumar

Chhatrasal Stadium murder case: Reward of Rs 1 Lakh on info leading to arrest of wrestler @WrestlerSushil announced. Rs 50,000 reward announced for Ajay, who is absconding too: Delhi Police

Non-bailable warrant has been issued against Kumar & others. pic.twitter.com/IacjyRgcZa

According to reports, Rana was assaulted by Kumar and a bunch of other wrestlers on May 4, a day after which, the young athlete breathed his last.  

An FIR was registered against Kumar, a two-time Olympic medallist, for abduction and criminal conspiracy and on Saturday, a non-bailable warrant was issued against him at Delhi’s Rohini court.

Following the warrant, the Delhi Police had raided Kumar’s house but had to return empty-handed while gathering that the 37-year old had gone to Haridwar and then to Rishikesh in order to sneak away from the police.  

“Sagar had been at Chhatrasal for nearly eight years. He considered Sushil as his guru. I handed over my son to Mahabali Satpal, who runs Chhatrasal akhada. They promised to make him a fine wrestler,” Sagar's father Ashok was quoted as saying by The Indian Express. 

"He has won medals and represented India in international competitions. He was proud to be part of Chhatrasal. Sagar never missed a day of training. He didn’t want to let down his mentors… If Sagar did something wrong, they could have slapped him or thrown him out of Chhatrasal for good.” 

"They should have called me up or his father and told us what he was doing and why it could not be tolerated. We would have advised Sagar. But taking his life is unacceptable,” Narendra Dhankhar, Sagar's uncle, said. 

On May 11, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) had made a statement to the Press Trust of India (PTI) talking about how the allegations and charges against Kumar had damaged the image of the sport in the country. 

“Yes, I must say that the image of Indian wrestling has got hurt badly by this. But we have nothing to do with what wrestlers do away from the mat. We are concerned with their on-mat performance,” WFI Assistant Secretary Vinod Tomar told PTI. 

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