The murder of wrestler Sagar Rana has caught the attention of the entire country, especially because of the person who is being charged for the crime. The two-time Olympic medallist and one of the most beloved athletes of the country at one point, Sushil Kumar was absconding, hiding across Delhi and the NCR region, arrested and was then in police custody.

On Thursday, a Delhi court announced nine-day judicial custody for the accused and his associate, Ajay Kumar, while denying Delhi Police’s application to extend their custody over him for three more days.

His advocate, Pradeep Rana urged the court to consider the wrestler not as a “dreadful criminal” but as a “victim of circumstances”. 

Metropolitan Magistrate Rashmi Gupta denied police further custody, stating that “as per settled law, PC remand should not be granted in a mechanical manner.”

“He is the one who brought pride to the country, not just once, but twice. He is the only person in our country who did this. He has been conferred the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, Padma Bhushan, etc. But the investigating agency is hardly caring about his personal liberty,” Rana said.

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

“This shows they (Police) are trying to beat around the bush. I’ve gone through this application. Not a single ground is shown. In the last 10 days, you were unable to recover a danda. Police remand cannot be given unless there is a special reason given in the application or the same must be disclosed by the case diary. Out of 11, nine accused persons have been arrested and many are sent to judicial custody,” Rana added.

Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava on the other hand called this incident a “cold-blooded murder”. 

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

“He (Sushil) was the in-charge of everything there. The DVR has not been recovered. The mobile phone has to be recovered. It is clearly visible that he was carrying a danda (stick). That danda has not been recovered. The clothes he was wearing have not been recovered,” the APP told the court.

“It’s a cold-blooded murder. Justice should be there for the victims. The whole society is looking up to this case. Will he today agree that he was there? No he will not.”

Metropolitan Magistrate Rashmi Gupta denied police further custody, stating that “as per settled law, PC remand should not be granted in a mechanical manner.”

View the full article