Woman wrestler shot dead in Sonipat; identity causes confusion

SONIPAT/GONDA: A wrestler named Nisha Dahiya and her brother were shot dead by unknown assailants at an academy here on Wednesday, the murdered woman's identity becoming a cause of confusion as several reports mistook her for under-23 world championship bronze-medallist of the same name.

The killed siblings' mother also sustained injuries as assailants opened fire at them and has been admitted at the PGIMS hospital in Rohtak, the police said.

Sonipat Assistant Superintendent of Police Mayank Gupta confirmed the death of

Dahiya

and her brother Suraj.

The incident took place at the Sushil Kumar Wrestling Academy in Sonipat's Halalpur.

But there was chaos online as several reports identified Dahiya as the world medallist, who had been congratulated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi just this morning for her performance in Belgrade some days back.

The Wrestling Federation of India shared a video in which the fast-rising wrestler can be seen stating that she is in Gonda for the National Championships and fine.

Sitting next to her in the video is 2016 Olympic bronze-medallist Sakshi Malik.

"The girl who died was a newcomer hailing from Halalpur village in Sonepat. She is also Nisha Dahiya but not the one who went to the U-23 World Championship," coach Randhir Malik, who travelled with the Indian women's team to Belgrade, told PTI.

"That Nisha is safe. It's fake news that she has died," he added.

In Sonepat, the police suspect that a coach of the academy could be behind the gruesome incident.

The police said five to six rounds of bullets were fired and added that an investigation was underway.

The bodies have been sent for post-mortem.