The Supreme Court Today (Aug 13) cancelled the Delhi High Court’s order granting bail to wrestler Sushil Kumar, accused in the 2021 murder of junior champion Sagar Dhankar. Kumar has been ordered to surrender within one week.
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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court, on Wednesday, overturned the Delhi High Court’s March 4 order that had granted bail to wrestler Sushil Kumar, the main accused in the murder of junior national champion Sagar Dhankar.
The Bench, comprising Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, heard the plea filed by the victim’s father, Ashok Dhankad, challenging the High Court’s decision.
The court has now directed that Kumar must “surrender within one week.”
Sushil Kumar, along with several others, is accused of “brutally assaulting” Dhankar in the parking lot of Delhi’s Chhatrasal Stadium on May 4, 2021. This attack, allegedly linked to a property dispute, also injured Dhankar’s friends Sonu and Amit Kumar. Dhankar, just 23 years old, died from “cerebral damage caused by blunt force trauma.”
Senior Advocate Siddharth Mridul represented the victim’s side, while Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani appeared for Sushil Kumar. According to the prosecution, Kumar and his associates not only attacked Dhankar but also left his companions injured in the same assault.
After the incident, a massive manhunt began for Kumar, a decorated wrestler. He evaded arrest for 18 days before Delhi Police caught him in Mundka on May 23, 2021. Following his arrest, he was suspended from his Railways job and kept in judicial custody until earlier this year when the Delhi High Court granted him bail.
The High Court, while granting bail on March 4, had noted that Kumar had “spent more than three and a half years in custody” and approved his release on a bond of Rs. 50,000 with two sureties of the same amount.
Kumar’s lawyers, Advocates R.S. Malik and Sumeet Shokeen, had argued that he had already been in custody for over three and a half years, and in that time, “only 30 out of 186 prosecution witnesses had been examined,” showing that the trial was moving very slowly.
The Supreme Court, however, after listening to both sides, found merit in the victim’s family’s argument and cancelled the bail. With this decision, Kumar will have to return to jail while the murder trial continues.
Earlier, in July 2023, Kumar had been given “interim bail of seven days” for medical reasons, after the court noted that he had “a torn ligament near his right knee and required surgery.” He was released from July 23 to July 30 on a personal bond of Rs. 1 lakh with two sureties of the same amount.
Back on October 12, 2022, Rohini District Court’s Additional Sessions Judge Shivaji Anand had framed charges under Section 302 IPC (murder) and other offences against Sushil Kumar and 17 others.
These included IPC Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 142 (member of unlawful assembly), 148 (rioting armed with a deadly weapon), and 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object).
Charges were framed under Section 302 read with Section 34 (common intention) against Kumar and others — namely, Prince, Ajay Kumar, Mohit, Manjeet, Gulab, Bhupender, Rohit Malik, Bijender, Anirudh Dahiya, Subhash, Gaurav Loura, Surjeet Grewal, Anil Dhiman, Praveen Dabas, Praveen, Rahul, and Parveen Dabas. Additionally, the court framed attempted murder charges for the injuries inflicted on the other victims.
CASE TITLE:
Ashok Dhankad v. State NCT of Delhi and Anr.
SLP(Crl) No. 5370/2025
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