Sushil Kumar: From Olympic champion to an extorsion king

Chander Shekhar Luthra
May 25, 2021

New Delhi:From making India proud by winning medals in two different Olympics — 2008 Beijing and 2012 London — to becoming a wanted criminal in a murder case, decorated wrestler Sushil Kumar has come a long way, and fans are left gutted with the big twist in his life.
Sushil’s success triggered a revolution in Indian wrestling circuit and every household in Haryana or Western Uttar Pradesh wanted at least one kid of their home to be a ‘Pehelwan’ like him.

The grappler from Najafgarh’s Baprola village remained till date the only one to have won two individual Olympic medals.
Son of DTC bus conductor, Sushil was inspired to take up the sport by his cousin Sandeep. Though, Sandeep quit the wrestling soon, but Sushil joined the Chhatrasal Stadium ‘akhara’ at the tender age of 14. He was guided by Yashvir and Ramphal initially and later under Arjuna awardee Mahabali Satpal Singh he horned his skills as champion grappler.
Sushil came into prominence after winning the World Cadet Games in Poland in 1998. This was soon followed by the Asian Junior Wrestling Championship in 2000.

The grappler went onto bag another gold medal at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championship in 2005 and repeated the success in 2007 and that fetched him the coveted Arjuna award same year.

But it was Beijing 2008 Games that changed Sushil’s life forever. India’s wait for an Olympic gold had ended with Sushil winning the bronze medal against all odds.

His achievement had a tremendous impact as Indian wrestling as Yogeshwar Dutt, Geeta and Babita Phogat, their cousin Vinesh, Rio bronze medallist Sakshi Malik and World medallists Bajrang Punia, Ravi Dahiya, and Deepak Punia all went on to bring laurels for India in the coming years.
And when Sushil created history in 2010 by becoming the first Indian to win a gold medal at the FILA World Wrestling Championships in Moscow, he was rightly chosen to be India’s flag-bearer in the 2012 London Games.

From wrestling mat to crime

What happened between 2012 and 2021 is something of a mystery to all.
After London 2012, Sushil’s aura grew further along with his lust for power and money. Things in the wrestling world also changed after 2012, when weight categories at the Olympics were tweaked.

He had to move from 66-kg to 74-kg. He won gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 but then his career was punctuated by controversies subsequently.

In 2016, the big controversy was the Narsingh Yadav-Sushil one.
Narsingh won an Olympic berth winning bronze at the world championships in 2015 but Sushil wanted further trails to ascertain who should represent India at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Like any cheap third-grade soap opera, the tussle between the two turned ugly. Narsingh tested positive for doping and had to miss the Rio Olympics because he was forced to serve a four-year ban after a CAS hearing there. Narsingh blamed it entirely on Sushil and alleged that he and his father-in-law mixed a banned substance in his drink while he was not his room.

The allegation remained an allegation as Sushil was cleared of all charges.

After missing 2016 Rio, Sushil lost in the first round of the Asian Games in 2018.
Before this, there were instances which were noticed by everyone around. During the national championships in 2017, Sushil became champion without fighting a single fight.

His opponents then, Parveen and Sachin Rathi, gave walkovers before the final.
In the gold medal round too, Parveen Rana did not turn up citing injury. And when Rana later turned up for trails for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, he lost but was attacked by ‘Sushil’s supporters’.

Rana and his brother required hospital treatment and an FIR was filed against Sushil and his supporters.
Sushil failed to get qualification for Tokyo Games after suffering a shock defeat in the 74-kg weight category in the qualifying round in Jakarta. He felt further humiliated when Sports Authority of India dropped him from the TOPS scheme, indicating end of his professional career.

Leader of akhara

It was sometimes in 2019, much before the Covid-19 lockdown happened in India, some of the scribes were taken to the basement parking of Chhatrasal Stadium by Sushil ‘Pehelwan’ to show his practice arena during one of their casual visits there.

A dark and dingy place was originally being built to park vehicles of officials but was never used for the original purpose. When did Sushil converted it as his practice arena was not known to me, but the two wrestling mats there were enough to understand that “arena is being used by none other but two-time Olympic Games’ medallist.”

Later-on, there were many stories in the media how 36-year-old Sushil is training hard at the same converted parking lot for Tokyo Olympics.
Sushil preferred to train alone and away from many of his other colleague at the Chhatrasal akhara ever since he got transferred there on deputation as Officer on Special Duty from his parent employers, Northern Railways.

This parking lot suddenly came into limelight on May 5, when a mid-night brawl with young wrestler Sagar Dhankar resulted in his death.

According to many of Sushil’s close associates, the incident occurred over a dispute related to a property located in the Model Town area.
Whatsoever be the reason, but Sushil was arrested on May 23, the World Wrestling Day.A day which was celebrated in India for his achievements.
With two Olympic medals, a World Championship gold and three gold medals in the Commonwealth Games, Sushil has been India’s top household name in the last decade. The way he was hiding his face with towel after his arrest by Delhi Police on this day also somewhere reminded us how proudly he used to wrap himself in Indian Tri-colour after winning international laurels.

Sushil has been sent to a six-day police custody. Media reports said that he has been suspended by the Indian Railways until further orders. He is now facing allegations of connection to several gangsters, like Sundar Bhati, Neeraj Bawaniya and Kala Jathedi. It is being alleged that several wrestlers and gangsters including Sushil worked together to capture and recover land in Delhi and Gurgaon.

It is also being told that when Sagar was beaten inside stadium premises, Sushil was accompanied by another person named Sonu.
And Sonu is none other but nephew of the famous gangster Jathedi.

Entry into crime world

It has been for last half-a-decade now that there were murmurs over company Sushil had been keeping.
The police are focusing on unearthing the crime network that Sushil was allegedly a part of along with jailed gangster Neeraj Bawana.
Police are claiming to have found more evidence of his links with Bawana as one of the vehicles, a Scorpio SUV, which was seized from the spot where wrestler Sagar Dhankad was murdered, has been found linked to a Bawana’s close associate, Mohit.

Sushil’s footprints had also surfaced in many extortion cases reported from the Model Town and adjoining areas in recent past.
And the investigation over how fugitive gangster Sandeep alias Kala Jathedi, who had demanded Rs One crore as protection money from a cable businessman, also pointed fingers towards Sushil.

Jathedi, though, made phone calls from an international number. But Sushil has always been in forefront while helping this gangster taking control of “toll tax booths” in Delhi, UP and Haryana in recent years.
However, the two had reportedly parted ways a few months back. And the star wrestler allegedly joined hands with jailed gangster Neeraj Bawana and Naveen Bali.

Though all this is now part of investigation or judicial process, but the latest controversy has shamed the entire wrestling world who were all in the awe of Sushil and his stature as an ideal role model for next generation!

(The author of the article is a senior sports journalist based in Delhi. He can be contacted@shekhar.luthra@gmail.com)

–INDIA NEWS STREAM