Delhi high court agrees to hear plea to restrain 'media trial' of wrestler Sushil Kumar

New Delhi, May 27: A plea to restrain the media from 'sensationalising' the trial of wrestler and Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar in connection with the death of a 23-year old man, and seeking rules for reporting criminal cases was mentioned on Thursday before the Delhi High Court which agreed to hear it on May 28.

The petition was mentioned before a bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh which allowed it to be listed for hearing on Friday. The plea has been moved by a law student alleging that Kumar's career and reputation has been damaged by the media's reporting of the case against him in connection with the Chhatrasal Stadium brawl that led to the death of the 23-year-old wrestler.

On May 5, Sagar Dhankar died in a hospital after sustaining major injuries, allegedly by Kumar and his associates during a brawl in Chhatrasal stadium. The two-time Olympic medalist was arrested from outer Delhi's Mundka area with his associate Ajay Bakkarwala, a co-accused in the case, on May 23.

The police have found that a dispute over a flat in Model Town owned by Kumar, where Dhankad lived, had snowballed into a clash between the two groups.

On Wednesday, police recorded statements of eight eye-witnesses and interrogated them regarding the involvement of the 23-year-old Olympian.

The four accused have been identified as Bhupender alias Bhupi, Mohit alias Bholi, Gulab alias Pahlwan and Majeet alias Chunnil Lal, all four are residents of Haryana. They are active members of the Kala Asauda and Neeraj Bawana gangs.