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Two arrested in Sonepat wrestler, brother murder case
A special investigation team (SIT) of the Sonepat police on Thursday arrested a woman coach and her brother from Rohtak in connection with the double murder of a 22 -year-old wrestler and her 18-year-old brother at a wrestling academy in Halalpur village of Haryana’s Sonepat on Wednesday afternoon
A special investigation team (SIT) of the Sonepat police on Thursday arrested a woman coach and her brother from Rohtak in connection with the double murder of a 22 -year-old wrestler and her 18-year-old brother at a wrestling academy in Halalpur village of Haryana’s Sonepat on Wednesday afternoon.
The SIT arrested Sujata, wife of the main accused Pawan, of Rohtak’s Baland village, and her brother Amit, of Halalpur village. The duo will be produced in court on Friday.
Police have been conducting raids to arrest main accused, coach Pawan and his aide Sachin, who are absconding. Police have announced a reward of ₹1 lakh each on them.
The Kharkhauda police had registered an FIR for murder and other charges against Pawan, his wife Sujata, brother-in-law Amit and aide Sachin for killing a wrester and her brother.
Doctors extract 7 bullets from victims’ bodies
A team of doctors performed postmortem examination of Nisha Dahiya and her brother Suraj at Sonepat civil hospital on Friday.
Principal medical officer at the civil hospital, Dr Jai Bhagwan, said they extracted four bullets from Nisha’s body and three from her brother’s. “We have sent the viscera for testing at Madhuban laboratory in Karnal,” the PMO added.
Earlier in the day, the locals had held a panchayat at Halapur village in which BJP’s Rai MLA Mohan Lal Kaushik also participated.
The villagers urged police to ensure encounter of the accused coaches. The Sonepat administration has assured the villagers that they will form a committee of five co-villagers who will keep an eye on the police investigation.
Accused coach extorted ₹8-10 lakh: Victims’ father
Wrestler Nisha’s father, Dayanand Dahiya, a sub-inspector in the CRPF, has alleged that Pawan had extorted ₹8-10 lakh from them in the name of sending the deceased wrestler for foreign tournaments.
“Coach Pawan had brainwashed my daughter and she used to follow his directions. On his advice, Nisha did not appear in her JBT exams and the coach did not pay us ₹50,000 won by Nisha in a tournament in Maharashtra. He had also taken money from my daughter to prepare her another birth certificate with a lower age,” he added.
Coach harassed daughter: Victim’s mother
In a statement to the police, victims’ mother Dhanpati alleged that Pawan, who is also the owner of the academy, had opened fire at them after their daughter accused him of harassing her.
“My daughter had informed me earlier too that coach Pawan often misbehaved with her. When we talked to the accused about this, he promised not to repeat such acts in future,” she said.
“On Wednesday, she went to the academy for training and returned home. At 1 pm, she went to the academy again. We received a call from Pawan saying Nisha was not feeling well, and he asked us to take her home. When I and my son Suraj reached there, we saw Pawan, his wife Sujata and two others rushing towards Nisha near the main gate of the academy. She told me that Pawan had misbehaved with her and threatened to kill her if she narrated the incident to anyone,” she added.
“Then, coach Pawan pulled out a gun and fired multiple shots at my daughter. She collapsed after receiving bullet wounds. Pawan then fired shots at me and chased my son Suraj, who was running towards the village. I saw them firing several bullets, which hit him and he too died on the spot,” she added.
‘Academy has no connection with Olympian wrestler’
Kharkhauda assistant superintendent of police Myank Gupta said the academy was named after wrestler Sushil Kumar, but they have found no links with the Olympics wrestler.
Relatives of the deceased said she had started wrestling while in school and had won a silver medal in the All India University Inter-Wrestling Tournament in 2018.
According to local residents, Pawan had opened the academy in Halalpur village about five years ago and was training around 45 trainees.
