Delhi Police Special Cell held two wanted in wrestler Sagar Dhankad murder case

New Delhi, September 20

Delhi Police Special Cell held two wanted criminals carrying rewards on their name in wrestler Sagar Dhankad murder case.

The special cell arrested a wrestler Rahul Dhanda, from Nangal Thakran in Delhi and Rahi from Badaun Uttar Pradesh. While Rahul was on the run in the case Rais is an interstate drug peddler. 

Dhanda was wanted in several cases including the sensational Sagar Dhankhad murder case under sections 302/308/325/323/341/506/188/269/120B IPC and sections 25 & 27 Arms Act.  He was carrying a reward of Rs. 50,000/- on information leading to his arrest.  Rahul Dhanda is a close asssociate of wrestler Sushil Kumar and gangster Sonu Dariyapur. One .32 bore pistol along with 3 live cartridges were recovered from his possession.

Rahis who was running an interstate drug cartel was wanted under sections 18/29 NDPS Act. He was carrying a reward of Rs. One Lakh on information leading to his arrest.
The special cell carried out two seperate operations- in first operation, information was received regarding one Rahul Dhanda who has been absconding in three cases including the infamous murder of Sagar Dhankhad by the Olympic silver medallist Sushil Pehalwan and others. In this case wrestler Sushil Kumar, Prince Dalal and 17 others have been arrested whereas some accused persons including Rahul Dhanda were absconding. Cash reward of Rs. 50,000/- was declared by Delhi Police for providing information leading to his arrest in this case. 

The police received information that Rahul Dhanda would be arriving near Gaushala, Bawana to meet some fellow criminal. Accordingly, a trap was laid and Rahul Dhanda was apprehended. One .32 bore pistol with three live cartridges were also recovered from his possession.
Dhanda took up wrestling since childhood at a local Akhadanear his village. He was selected in Delhi team of Sports Authority of India (SAI) and remained part of Sub-Junior as well as Junior team of Delhi State between 2005 to 2009. He also won two silver and one bronze national medalsin wrestling in Sub-Junior & Junior categories during this period. During this period he attended several camps at Chhatarsal Stadium and came into contact with Sushil Pehalwan. 

DCP (Special Cell) Pramod Singh Kushwaha stated that Dhanda's house is located in front of the farming land of gangster Sonu Dariyapur. Since childhood he got fascinated with gangster Sonu Dariyapur and developed family relations with him. When Sonu Dariyapur was arrested he maintained contact with him through phone. He also went to jail on mulakats and helped in running his criminal activities outside. 

In 2015, accused Rahul managed to obtain an Arms License procured on forged documents from Nagaland and bought firearm on the license and he was arrested along with others. But after getting bail, he stopped attending the Court and was declared a proclaimed offender in this case. 

The officials added that Naveen, a liquor supplier is a fellow villager of Rahul. In 2019, Rahul passed on the information about Naveen to gangster Sonu Dariyapur for extortion from him. Subsequently, Sonu Dariyapur called Naveen and demanded extortion. When Naveen did not accede to the illegal demand of gangster Sonu Dariyapur, the latter tried to kill Naveen through his another associate namely Avnish. Sonu Dariyapur and Avinish were arrested in this case, whereas Rahul Dhanda absconded since then.

While absconding in above referred cases, he joined Sushil Pehalwan and started hiding himself at the hideouts provided by Sushil Pehalwan including in Chhatrasal Stadium. On the day of incident he was accompanying Sushil Pehalwan. His Alto car was also recovered from the parking of Chhatarsal Stadium.

In the second operation, the special cell cultivated sources in Badaun, UP and managed to get details of family members and relatives of Rahis. The police received Intel that Rahis may be hiding in Khatima, Uttrakhand at one of his relative’s house. A team of Special Cell was sent there and surveillance was mounted. Surveillance revealed that accused Rahis was residing at his brother in-law’s house near Noori Masjid, Khatima, Uttrakhand. Rahis was apprehended by Special Cell team from near Noori Masjid, Khatima Uttrakhand when he had come to local market.
Adding more on Rahis, officials said, that he was initially arrested in an auto-theft case in Ghaziabad. In jail, he met one Babloo, a drug supplier quickly learnt the basics of drugs trafficking. Rahis started trafficking opium from Nagaland to Delhi and UP since 2010. Rahis used to procure opium from Deemapur through his conduits and further supplied it to dealers/peddlers in Delhi & UP. Opium is smuggled from there through various traffickers and reaches the hands of drugs dealers of Delhi NCR.  
The main conduits of Rahis who used to go to Deemapur, Nagaland to receive the consignment of opium was Musfique Alam.
In June 2015, the Special Cell had busted this cartel and recovered 10.5 KG Opium from the possession of two in Purnia Bihar. During investigation, the name of Rahis as the kingpin of this drug cartel was disclosed. Subsequently Rahis was arrested and another five kilograms of opium was recovered from his possession. In 2018, Rahis was released on interim bail on medical grounds but he did not surrender and jumped bail.