India’s Supreme Court has withdrawn the bail granted to Olympic wrestler Sushil Kumar in the murder case of former junior national wrestling champion Sagar Dhankar from 2021.
This order was given on 13 August 2025. The Supreme Court overturned the Delhi High Court’s 4 March 2025 order that had granted Sushil Kumar bail after he spent over three years in jail, and has now told him to surrender within a week.
This case started in May 2021 when Sagar Dhankar was beaten to death at Delhi’s Chhatrasal Stadium. Police say that Sushil Kumar and some others attacked Dhankar because of a property dispute. Two of Dhankar’s friends were also badly hurt during this incident. The postmortem report says Dhankar died because of serious brain damage caused by being hit with a blunt object.
The trial in this case has been going on for a long time. Out of 186 witnesses, only 30 have been questioned in more than three years. The Delhi High Court had given Sushil Kumar bail earlier, saying that the trial was getting delayed and he had already spent a long time in jail. But Sagar Dhankar’s father challenged this decision in the Supreme Court.
He said that Kumar had threatened witnesses in the past when he was out on interim bail. Because of this, some witnesses changed their statements or refused to testify.
The Supreme Court judges, Sanjay Karol and Prashant Kumar Mishra, stated that the High Court made a mistake by granting bail in such a serious matter. The judges noted the seriousness of the crime, the risk that Kumar could influence the trial, and his actions during the investigation.
They also mentioned that Kumar avoided arrest for almost 20 days before being caught. The Court said the case involves kidnapping and the use of dangerous weapons.
Witness protection was also an important reason for taking back the bail. Some witnesses told the court that they were being threatened and feared for their lives because of Kumar’s influence. The Court said that pressuring witnesses is a serious problem and damages the justice system.
Sushil Kumar is 42 years old and is one of India’s most famous wrestlers. He has won medals in two Olympic Games and was once a world champion. He began his wrestling career at the Chhatrasal Stadium where this incident happened. But his image has been badly damaged because of the ongoing murder trial.