Kumar, who won medals for India in 2012 and 2016, had been on the run since being named in the murder of a fellow wrestler.
Double Olympic wrestling medalist Sushil Kumar, wanted in connection with the murder of a former junior national wrestling champion, has been detained by Delhi police in the Indian capital New Delhi.
The 37-year-old had fled since Sagar Dhankhar, 23, was beaten on May 4.
On Tuesday, a Delhi court rejected an offer from his lawyers to avoid his arrest and Kumar was brought before a city court on Sunday, police said.
Kumar, who had also won a world title and Commonwealth Games golds, was present when former junior national champion Dhankad was killed at New Delhi’s Chhatrasal Stadium in a clash between rival fighters, according to police .
Police had raided the Delhi region and offered a reward of $ 1,350 that led to the capture of Kumar, who won a silver medal in wrestling at the 2012 London Olympics and a bronze at the London Games. Beijing four years earlier.
“We have recorded statements from all the victims and all filed complaints against Sushil Kumar,” senior police officer Guriqbal Singh Sidhu told Indian press on Tuesday.
#DelhiPolice Today, Special Cell has killed a fugitive assassin, accused of fighter Sushil Kumar and Ajay @ Sunil of Mundka, Delhi, in the early hours of today in a PS Model Town case where they killed another fighter. Rewards of $ 1 L and $ 50,000. It occurs in court.#NoWrestlingWithLaw pic.twitter.com/fi6uZzgb0X
– #DilKiPolice Delhi Police (DelhiPolice) May 23, 2021
Kumar’s lawyers went to court on Tuesday to ask for an early bail in the case, but it was denied because of the seriousness of the allegations.
Dhankad, the son of a Delhi police officer, died of his wounds the day after the fight. Another fighter is in treatment and has identified the alleged assailants, police said.
A few weeks before the scheduled start of the Tokyo Olympics, the Wrestling Federation of India said the reputation of the sport has been tarnished by the case.
“I must say that the image of Indian wrestling has been severely hurt by this,” WFI Secretary Vinod Tomar told reporters.
Tomar said the fight had been struggling to improve its image to fight the idea of ”fighters … known only as a group of thugs”.
The case is the second scandal that has affected Indian wrestling in months.
A coach, Sukhwinder Mor, is awaiting trial for the murder of five people, including a rival coach, in February.
Kumar was the first Indian to win two individual Olympic medals and also the first in more than five decades to win a wrestling medal.
His success inspired a generation of Indian fighters, including Yogeshwar Dutt and the Phogat sisters.
While active in the sport, Kumar had not qualified for the Tokyo Games, where India had hopes of winning four medals.