Sushil Kumar at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

The Supreme Court has cancelled the bail granted to Olympic medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar in connection with the 2021 murder of former junior national wrestling champion Sagar Dhankar at Delhi’s Chhatrasal Stadium. A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Prashant Kumar Mishra on Wednesday set aside the Delhi High Court’s March 4 order that had allowed Kumar’s release. The court has directed the wrestler to surrender within a week. Kumar, along with others, is accused of attacking Dhankar in May 2021 over an alleged property dispute. Two of Dhankar’s friends were also injured in the assault. The post-mortem report stated that Dhankar died from cerebral damage caused by the impact of a blunt object. The Delhi High Court had earlier granted the 42-year-old bail, noting that in three years since the trial began, only 30 of the 186 prosecution witnesses had been examined, which was less than one-sixth of the total number.

However, Dhankar’s uncle, Ashok Dhankad, challenged the decision in the Supreme Court, alleging that Kumar had tried to intimidate witnesses. It was also claimed that during an earlier interim bail period, Kumar had threatened a key witness.