It seems India’s reputation built over years with some great performances at the global platforms by the grapplers suffered a major setback on the occasion of International Wrestling Day as two-time Olympic medallist and ace wrestler Sushil Kumar was arrested on Sunday morning over his alleged involvement in the murder of a wrestler in Delhi.
Sushil, who had been evading arrest for nearly 20 days, was arrested in the Mundka area along with a co-accused from northwest Delhi’s Mundka, police officials said.
Notably, Police were searching Sushil over his alleged involvement in the death of a 23-year-old wrestler – Sargar Rana at the Chhatrasal stadium in Delhi.
According to police, Sushil and his associates had assaulted fellow wrestler Sagar and his two friends on May 4 and the trio were later hospitalised, where Rana succumbed to the injuries.
Earlier, the Delhi Police had announced a reward of Rs one lakh for information leading to the arrest of Sushil Kumar, who had since been on the run.
Significantly, since Sushil rose to stardom, he hasn’t been able to keep himself away from controversies.
Sushil’s bitter feud with Narsingh Yadav for the 74kg slot in the 2016 Rio Olympics isn’t a hidden secret with anyone.
Later, Narsingh was tested positive for a banned substance and he claimed that it was sabotage.
Also, there were allegations of his supporters beating up wrestler Parveen Rana’s brother during the 2018 Commonwealth Games trials in the national capital however, Sushil denied his role in the matter.
In 2017, Sushil had been in the news for another wrong reason as 100-odd Indian students, several of them girls in their early teens, were reportedly ill-treated and deprived of food and transportation during the Pacific School Games in Adelaide.
Significantly, Sushil was the President of the School Games Federation of India (SGFI) at that time which had fielded these students in differenting sporting events of the Scholl Games in Australia.
Sushil’s success at the international stage initiated a revolution and created an inspirational legacy as the celebrated had soon become the face of Indian wrestling.
The celebrated grappler from Najafgarh’s Baprola village is till date India’s only world champion (2010) in the sport and is also an idol for several young grapplers not only in India but also abroad.
Sushil is also the only one to claim two individual Olympic medals.