COACH ARRESTED AFTER FIVE SHOT DEAD AT ROHTAK WRESTLING ARENA
ROHTAK: A day after five persons were shot dead and two others hurt in a firing incident in the wrestling arena of Rohtak’s Jat College, a joint team of Delhi and Rohtak police arrested the accused, Sukhvinder Singh, from Samaypur Badli in Delhi. Police had announced a reward of ₹1 lakh for information on the accused, a certified coach from NIS, Patiala.
ROHTAK: A day after five persons were shot dead and two others, including a three-yearold child, were grievously injured in a firing incident in the wrestling arena of Rohtak’s Jat College, a joint team of Delhi and Rohtak police arrested the accused, Sukhvinder Singh, from Samaypur Badli in the Capital.
Police had announced a reward of ₹1 lakh for information on the accused, a resident of Baroda village in Sonepat and a certified coach from Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala.
Rohtak superintendent of police (SP) Rahul Sharma said, “He was caught from Samaypur Badli area... We will bring him to Rohtak on a production warrant and seek his remand.”
“Prima facie it appears that the incident took place due to a rivalry between the accused and head coach Manoj Kumar. We are collecting CCTV footage from Jat College and nearby areas. The victims’ bodies have been handed over to their family.”
On Friday evening, coach Manoj Kumar of Sonepat, his wife Sakshi, two Nis-certified coaches Satish Dalal of Sonepat and Pardeep Malik of Rohtak, were shot dead along with national-level wrestler Pooja on the campus.
Manoj’s three-year-old son Sartaj is in the intensive care unit (ICU) at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, while the other injured, coach
Amarjeet Singh, is undergoing treatment at Medanta hospital in Gurugram.
Manoj Kumar’s younger brother Parmoj Kumar, a Commonwealth Games medallist in boxing, told HT that his brother, Manoj, and sister-in-law, Sakshi, were national-level players. He added that their family had cordial relations with the accused.
“Sukhvinder was working as a wrestling coach at Jat College’s akhara. My brother, who was the head of the akhara, had asked Sukhvinder to leave the college after Pooja filed a complaint against him,” said Parmoj.
Pooja’s father, Ram Gopal, said his daughter had become a victim of rivalry between coaches. “My daughter was to return home to Mathura on Saturday. She had won two medals at national-level events. She had moved to Rohtak with an aim of becoming an international-level player. Despite financial constraints at home, I had ensured that my daughter’s practice never suffered. Unfortunately, she was caught in the rivalry between two coaches,” he said.
The incident shocked the wrestling fraternity nationwide. “What has happened is extremely sad. I am here at the national camp in Lucknow and it has affected all of us that how can such an incident happen in an akhada. I did not know them personally and I never visited that centre but when you hear such things it jolts you,” said Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik, who has trained at the Chhotu Ram wrestling centre in Rohtak.