Cops put wrestling champ-turned 'killer' on the mat

NEW DELHI: An inter-state wrestling champion, who allegedly worked as a sharpshooter for the notorious Krishan Pehlwan gang, was arrested on Sunday for his alleged involvement in a number of of murder cases in Punjab and Haryana, said police.
Rakesh Kumar alias Raka, a 22-year-old former inter-state wrestling champion in the 84 kg freestyle category, was wanted in several murder cases.Police said Raka was arrested on tip-off that a sharpshooter of the gang run by Krishan Pehlwan who is cooling his heels in a Rajasthan jail would be coming to meet one of his accomplices at PVR Saket in south Delhi. Deputy commissioner of police (south Delhi) HGS Dhaliwal confirmed Raka was wanted in two murders cases.
Raka's interrogation reportedly revealed that he committed the first murder as a fallout of family enmity at his village in Rohtak. "Raka had enmity with one Mahinder and his family members. The dispute was over a piece of land and a will related to the property," said a police official.
"Mahinder was the main witness in that will and when Rakesh's father asked Mahinder to give a statement in their favour, Mahinder refused and on December 5 last year, Raka along with his other associates murdered Mahinder in his house in Rohtak. In the second case, Raka murdered one Padam Singh. One of his friends had developed illicit relations with Singh's wife and when Singh objected to that, he was murdered on December 31 last year when he was going to Punjab for work," added the police official.
Police said accused Rakesh Kumar was at present pursuing his graduate degree and recently appeared for his examination. His father was a sarpanch of the village and yielded enormous influence in nearby areas. It was during his school days that he became interested in wrestling and started practising in Chattarshal stadium in January 2003. He had won a bronze medal in the senior state wrestling championship held in Delhi in 2006. In 2007, he won a gold medal in the same championship and became a state champion.