Woman wrestler, her brother shot dead in Haryana's Sonipat

Police said that a wrestler and her brother were shot dead and their mother hospitalised after unidentified assailants opened fire at them in Haryana's Sonipat district on Wednesday.

Sonipat (Haryana):A university-level wrestler named Nisha Dahiya and her brother were killed and their mother suffered injuries as some assailants opened fire on them at a wrestling academy in Haryana's Sonipat district on Wednesday, following which angry villagers set the facility on fire.

The murdered wrestler's identity created confusion as several reports initially mistook her for her more famous namesake who recently won a bronze medal at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championship in Belgrade.

Police suspected that the coach-cum-owner of the academy in Sonipat's Halalpur area is behind the firing incident, and added that the motive is being investigated and efforts are being made to nab him.

Sonipat Assistant Superintendent of Police Mayank Gupta said Nisha Dahiya (20) and her brother Suraj (18) were killed in the incident, but rejected reports that the slain woman was the bronze-medallist wrestler. "She was a university-level wrestler who had been practising in the Sushil Kumar Wrestling Academy," Gupta added.

Officials said the academy has no links with double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar.

The initial confusion triggered chaos online and had its impact at the National Wrestling Championships being held in Gonda in Uttar Pradesh where the bronze-medallist wrestler is preparing for the event.

A shocked Dahiya, who was congratulated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi just this morning for her performance in Belgrade some days back, told PTI, "I am fine... I got to know about this unfortunate incident about one hour back when I was practising for the Nationals and I was taken aback. Then I started getting calls from my family and friends." She also shot a video of herself, sitting alongside Olympic bronze-medallist Sakshi Malik, in which she assured that she was fine.

The Wrestling Federation that asked her to make that video and post it on social media to put an end to the confusion.

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

In Sonipat, the police said the incident took place around 2 pm and five to six rounds of bullets were fired allegedly by coach of the academy Pawan and some other persons.

The body of Nisha Dahiya was found lying near the gate of the academy and her brother's body was around 100-200 metres away, said the police, adding that the bodies have been sent for post-mortem.

Their injured mother has been admitted to the PGIMS hospital in Rohtak, the police said.

The deceased were children of Dhanpati and Dayanand Dahiya of Halalpur village in Kharkhoda subdivision, said the police.

Angry over the incident, villagers of Halalpur set the academy on fire, the police said, adding that a heavy police force was deployed there.

The killing of the young wrestler and her brother is the latest tragic incident involving the wrestling fraternity.

In February this year, Sukhwinder, a National Institute of Sports (NIS)-certified coach, had shot dead three fellow coaches -- Manoj Kumar, Satish Dalal and Pardeep Malik -- at an akhada in Rohtak over alleged personal rivalry. The shootout was carried out by him after being allegedly sacked from the akhada. He had also killed Manoj's wife Sakshi and their three-year-old son along with national-level wrestler Pooja on the campus.

In May, double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar was arrested for allegedly murdering another grappler, Sagar Dhankar, during a brawl at the Chhatrasal Stadium. He is currently in jail.

PTI