Delhi court grants 4-day interim bail to Olympian wrestler Sushil Kumar

A Delhi court on Monday granted four days' interim bail to Olympian wrestler Sushil Kumar, the main accused in the murder case of junior national wrestling champion Sagar Dhankar, for performing the last rites of his father.

Sushil Kumar, along with others, is accused of allegedly assaulting former junior national wrestling champion Dhankar, a resident of Haryana's Rohtak, and his friends in the parking lot of the city's Chhatrasal stadium, on May 4, 2021 over an alleged property dispute.

He has been in judicial custody since June 2, 2021.

In October last year, the court had framed charges against Sushil Kumar and 17 others, setting the stage for their trial.

During the hearing, Additional Sessions Judge Shivaji Anand said: "Keeping in view the fact that the father of the accused expired yesterday and his last rites are to be carried out today itself, on humanitarian grounds, the applicant or accused be released on interim bail from March 6 to March 9 only on furnishing personal bonds of the sum of Rs 1 lakh with two sureties of the like amount."

"The entire expenditure of deployment of security persons or policemen for keeping surveillance and security of the applicant shall be borne by his family members," the judge added.

According to prison regulations, the court stated, the money must be lodged in advance with the jail superintendent concerned.

The judge directed that Kumar should surrender before the Jail Superintendent concerned on March 10, on expiry of his release.

The court imposed several conditions on interim bail like not threatening the prosecution witnesses, not tampering with evidence or indulging in any crime and sharing his phone's live location as and when required by the investigating officer (IO).

The judge said: "In case it is prima facie brought to the notice of the court that the applicant is violating the said conditions, the interim bail granted to him shall be liable to be cancelled."

Dhankar, who was murdered, had succumbed to injuries and according to the post-mortem report, he died due to cerebral damage resulting from blunt object impact.

Anand framed charges against Kumar and other accused under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including those related to murder, rioting and criminal conspiracy.