ROHTAK/NEW DELHI: Delhi police on Saturday arrested a Haryana-based college wrestling coach who had lost his job recently for allegedly plotting the murder of five fellow wrestlers, including the head coach and his railway employee wife, at an akhara in Rohtak on Friday night.
Prime accused Sukhwinder Singh, who was caught at a checkpoint in north Delhi’s Samaypur Badli, had allegedly opened fire indiscriminately to avenge his termination from service on the basis of complaints by women wrestlers training under him at Rohtak’s All-India Jat Heroes’ Memorial College, Haryana police said.
The five victims of his alleged rage were college head coach Manoj Kumar, his wrestler wife Sakshi Mallik (not to be confused with the Olympic bronze medallist of the same name), coaching colleagues Pradeep and Satish Dalal, and teenage trainee Pooja from UP. Manoj and Sakshi’s three-year-old son Sartaj, who took a bullet in his head, is on ventilation at PGIMS-Rohtak. Another wrestling coach identified as Amarjeet was injured in the rampage.
Sukhwinder’s arrest came hours after Haryana DGP Manoj Yadava announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for information leading to his capture.
Child of Haryana wrestler couple shot dead battling for life
Based on inputs from Haryana police, we had deployed teams to track possible inter-state movement by the accused, who had escaped in a car after the shooting incident in Rohtak.
At the police checkpoint in Samaypur Badli, the driver of a car tried to speed away when cops signalled for the vehicle to stop. After he was chased and caught, we found a pistol and five live cartridges in his possession. He identified himself as Sukhwinder Mor and confessed to Friday’s killings,” DCP (Outer North) Rajeev Ranjan said.
The SIT constituted to investigate the murders is interrogating the accused in Delhi. He will be brought to Rohtak on a production warrant.
Rohtak police said Sukhwinder, who is from Baroda in Sonipat district and has an NIS diploma in coaching, is estranged from his wife. The couple has a four-year-old son who lives with his grandparents. Sukhwinder and Dalal, one of the victims, were batchmates at NIS.
“Prima facie, it appears that the main accused was reacting to his termination from service following complaints by women wrestlers. He stormed into the venue around 8pm on Friday and started firing,” Rohtak SSP Rahul Sharma said.