Source: India eNews
Chandigarh – The ‘Great Khali’ is a superstar in the US for his exploits in the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) ring. In India, the police officer in Punjab has just overcome a shock that may have cost him his job.
The seven-feet-three-inches (2.21 metres) tall wrestler, whose real name is Dalip Singh Rana, is an assistant sub-inspector with Punjab Armed Police (PAP).
On Friday, the police suspended him, only to reinstate him within hours after Director General Of Police S.S. Virk intervened. Separately, the 200-kg Rana also got a notice to vacate the government house allotted to him in Jalandhar’s PAP complex.
His suspension followed an internal probe by PAP which concluded that the ‘Great Khali’ had failed to report for duty after his six-month leave expired in July this year. He had gone to the US in January.
In April, Rana made his debut as the ‘Great Khali’ in the WWE circuit (earlier known as the World Wrestling Federation – WWF) in the US and trounced the reigning champion – The Undertaker.
In one of the non-title clashes, Khali also defeated reigning world champion Rey Mysterio. One of his WWE fights was titled ‘Punjabi Prison’.
Seeing the fame and money coming his way, Rana has apparently decided to stay put in the US for a while but he also does not want to give up his police job.
Faced with the suspension order, he reportedly called up Director General Virk from the US Friday, following which his suspension was dramatically revoked.
The police have now accepted his leave request till December.
Rana was picked up about four years ago by then Punjab police Director General M.S. Bhullar, a keen sports enthusiast, as a wrestler. Hailing from a village in Himachal Pradesh, Rana, 34, is the third child in his family of eight siblings. One of his brothers is a Punjab Police constable.
The ‘Great Khali’ did odd labour jobs in his village and later in Shimla before he found a job with the Punjab Police.
