Sukhwinder, the main accused in the murder of five people at a wrestling academy (akhara) in Haryana's Rohtak was on Saturday arrested from Samaypur Badli by the Delhi Police in a joint operation with Haryana Police, officials said.
"He would be produced in court and then handed over to the Haryana police," said a senior police officer. The Haryana Police were tailing the accused, himself a wrestling coach and there were inputs that he was hiding in the national Capital. The Delhi Police, along with members of the Haryana Police, succeeded in identifying the location of the accused and finally arrested him.
Coach Manoj Malik, his wife Sakshi Malik and three other wrestlers were allegedly gunned down at an akhara on Friday evening by wrestling coach Sukhwinder in a fit of rage over his suspension from the job. Police said the preliminary investigation indicated that Manoj had got Sukhwinder terminated from the job on a complaint.
The dead include Manoj, a resident of Saragthala village in Sonepat, his wife Sakshi, Pooja, wrestling coach Satish Kumar and Pradeep Malik. Sakshi's three-year-old son and Amarjit were injured in the crime.
Earlier the Haryana Police had announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for the prime suspect Sukhwinder and also constituted a Special Investigation Team.
Superintendent of Police Rahul Sharma earlier told the reporters in Rohtak that the main accused, Sukhvinder, had been working as a wrestling coach at the college's gymnasium. After receiving some complaints, Manoj Malik had terminated his services, said Sharma. “Prima facie, because of this grudge, he (Sukhvinder) committed the crime,” said Sharma.
The SP said as per available information as of now, there was only one accused but he also did not rule out the possibility of the involvement of some other people. Police are collecting evidence from the crime scene and the CCTV footage is also being collected, Sharma said. However, the SP said he is not in a position to tell the motive of the crime. “It is a matter of investigation,” he said, adding that no eyewitness has come forward as of now.
“As per the feedback we got, there should be more eyewitnesses there,” he said. On the number of bullets fired, Sharma said, “The post-mortem of the dead is going on. Anything can be said about the number of bullet injuries only after the post-mortem. Before this, it will be very difficult to say how many shots were fired.”
Sharma said Sukhvinder, a resident of Gohana, did not have any licensed weapon. It is being investigated by the college authorities whether Sukhvinder was given appointment in written or on contract. “We are collecting documents. Whether he was conveyed in written about his termination of services or was communicated verbally,” the SP said.