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Wrestling

HC seeks Delhi police stand on transferring Sushil Kumar's case from Rohini

The four petitioners, who are prosecution witnesses, claimed that the involvement of the gangsters from Rohini or nearby areas in the case made them feel "more vulnerable".

Sushil Kumar
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Sushil Kumar

By

PTI

Updated: 16 Feb 2022 4:25 AM GMT

The Delhi High Court has sought the Delhi police's stand on a petition seeking to transfer the Chhatrasal Stadium murder case involving wrestler Sushil Kumar from Rohini district court to any other court in the city for a fair and impartial trial. The four petitioners, who are prosecution witnesses, claimed that the involvement of the gangsters from Rohini or nearby areas in the case made them feel "more vulnerable" and that most of the other wrestlers in the stadium were either sympathizers, disciples, colleagues, or in illegal support of the accused Sushil Kumar.

Justice Mukta Gupta asked for a status report under the signatures of the DCP concerned in view of the petitioners' claim and listed the case for further hearing on April 25. Sushil Kumar along with others is accused of allegedly assaulting a former junior national wrestling champion Sagar Dhankar and his friends at the stadium in May 2021 over an alleged property dispute. Dhankar later succumbed to the injuries. According to the post-mortem report, he died due to cerebral damage resulting from blunt object impact.

In the petition filed through lawyer Ajay Kumar Pipaniya, the petitioners have submitted that they were also victims of the assault and their lives were saved by the grace of God and due to the timely intervention of the police. The petitioners said that the co-accused are "notorious criminals" who belong to the areas in the proximity of the Rohini District Court and it would not be safe and secure for them to come and depose there. Apart from seeking a transfer outside Rohini, the petitioners prayed that the trial be conducted expeditiously and through video conferencing mode. The petitioners said that there are 150 witnesses in the present matter and thus the trial would take a long time to complete the trial.

"That these dreaded gangsters have already gone to the extent and threaten the families of the petitioners that if the petitioners would not give their testimonies in the favour of Sushil Kumar, then they would eliminate their families. It is pertinent to mention here that these hardened criminals and gangsters are having a stronghold within the jurisdiction of Rohini Courts," the petition alleged. The petitioners have also submitted that in September last year, a "renowned gangster was shot dead by two assailants making Rohini court complex a vulnerable court complex".

The Delhi Police has filed an FIR against the accused persons in the case for the alleged commission of several offences under the Indian Penal Code such as murder, attempt to murder, culpable homicide, criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, robbery, rioting, among others. In the first charge sheet which was filed by the police on August 2 last year, the police had said that the brawl at the stadium was the result of a conspiracy hatched by Sushil Kumar, who wanted to re-establish his supremacy among younger wrestlers. The sportsman is lodged in jail since June 2, 2021.

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