Panchayat says will collect bodies only when accused are arrested

A day after a female wrestler named Nisha Dahiya and her brother Suraj Dahiya were shot dead by unknown assailants at a wrestling academy in Halalpur in Sonipat district of Haryana, the villagers called a panchayat meeting in the village’s Chaupal on Thursday.

The villagers have clearly told the police that till the accused are not arrested, they will not go to the government hospital to collect the dead bodies of the wrestler and her brother. However, the village panchayat has not pronounced its final verdict on the issue. 

Meanwhile, no person from the deceased wrestler’s family or village has come to the government hospital for post-mortem and identification. The 20-year-old wrestler and her 18-year-old brother were shot dead on Wednesday afternoon allegedly by her coach and his accomplices, police said. After the incident, a group of angry villagers set fire to the academy which is owned by the coach.

The mother of the deceased wrestler was also shot at and is undergoing treatment at PGIMS, Rohtak, police said. The wrestler’s father is an Inspector in the CRPF and posted in Srinagar. According to the police he has been informed about the incident that occurred at around 2 pm on Wednesday.

In a statement to police, the mother alleged that the coach, Pawan, who is also the owner of the academy, had opened fire at them after her daughter accused him of harassing her. The accused are absconding. The academy where the incident took place is called the Sushil Kumar Academy. However, it has no connections with the Olympian Sushil Kumar.