The arrest in Punjab of a popular wrestler from Maharashtra has triggered calls from his family and both the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and NCP (SP) for Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to step in amid allegations of sporting rivalry playing a role in the incident.A talented mud-wrestler in the “dangal” circuit, Sikander Shaikh (26) was arrested in Mohali last week, along with two alleged gangsters from UP with police claiming that they recovered five pistols, live cartridges, cash and two vehicles in the operation. Another alleged gangster from Punjab was held in the same case later, they said.According to Mohali police, Shaikh was arrested along with the two from UP at Airport Chowk when he was allegedly purchasing the weapons for a local network.Shaikh, who hails from Mohol in Solapur, won the Rustam-e-Hind Kesari title in 2024, five years after winning gold in the under-23 National Wrestling Championship in Shirdi. His father and grandfather were wrestlers, too.Speaking to The Indian Express, NCP’s Solapur district chief Umesh Patil, who also hails from Mohol, said he suspected that Shaikh might have been “framed by local wrestlers due to sports rivalry”.“Every year, he earns `4-5 crore prize money in the wrestling circuit… If he takes part in one competition, he earns `1 lakh-1.5 lakh per day. During the season, he takes part in two-three events earning `3 lakh-4 lakh per day… Why would he want to earn in this manner (from the alleged gun purchase) when he has earned so much already… He has received 14 vehicles as gifts besides other prize money,” he said.Last year, the Punit Balan Group, which is into real estate and films, had announced financial support of `15 lakh annually for three years for Shaikh.Story continues below this adAccording to Patil, Shaikh, who was staying temporarily in Mohali to take part in various events and competitions, was arrested after he was asked by his “room mates to deliver a parcel to a person” and that the wrestler did not know that it “contained weapons”.“We hope Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will intervene and take up this case with the Punjab Government. Shaikh has won the Maharashtra Kesari and Rustam-E-Hind titles. He is tomorrow’s Hind Kesari,” he said.NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar, too, said he suspected that Shaikh had been “framed” in the case.“He has carved a name for himself in the wrestling world. I don’t believe he would turn to crime and dump wrestling at a time when he is at the height of his career. Maybe, some people tried to implicate him in the case because of the rapid strides that he has made in wrestling,” he said.Story continues below this adThe wrestler’s father Rashid Shaikh said the family is in “absolute shock”.“The whole of Maharashtra loves him. We are heavily dependent on him. He has a son who is also dependent on him. He has claimed many state and national titles…I urge Punjab Police not to commit injustice on my son,” he said.Rashid Shaikh said he had been encouraging his son to win the prestigious Hind Kesari title, considered the peak of dangal wrestling.“Our entire family had been encouraging him to go all out to win the Hind Kesari title. He has defeated all the top wrestlers from Punjab, Haryana and even Maharashtra. The Hind Kesari competition is coming near… He has been misled and framed in the case,” he said.Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read MoreClick here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:wrestler