THE DANGAL JUNGLE

The fall of an icon exposes the seedy underbelly of Indian wrestling

- Anilesh S. Mahajan and Suhani Singh

Bollywood made people love wrestling with Dangal, the 2016 drama based on the lives of the Phogat sisters and their domineering father-coach Mahavir. But if there was an inspiring, rags-to-riches tale ripe for big-screen treatment, one just had to look at Sushil Kumar. Son of a bus driver, Kumar is the only Indian athlete to win two individual medals at the Olympics—a bronze in 2008 followed by a silver in 2012—and the only Indian wrestler to win a World Championship title. He also has a bronze at the Asian Games, four Asian Championship medals and three Commonwealth Games gold medals.

After a competitive lull, Kumar was hoping to make a comeback by qualifying for the Tokyo Games, which were postponed by a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Those plans have turned to dust as the nation’s most feted wrestler is in jail after being accused of the murder of 23-year-old wrestler and former junior national champion Sagar Dhankar. The Delhi police have alleged that Kumar was the leader of the pack which beat up Dhankar and two others in the parking lot of the Chhatrasal Stadium in Delhi on May 4. One of the foremost wrestling academies in India is now the site infamous for a brawl that has ended two sporting careers.

The case is shocking not only because it allegedly involves a sporting icon but because it exposes the nexus between wrestlers and Delhi’s criminal gangs. Somu Mahal, one of Dhankar’s associates who claims to have been beaten up by Kumar and his cohort, is the nephew of notorious gangster Kala Jathedi, who in turn has criminal cases in Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi.

DUBIOUS LINKS