Luke gets bail after court sees CCTV footage

May 20, 2012

Luke


New Delhi, May 20: Australian cricketer Luke Pomersbach, accused of molesting an American woman, was on Saturday granted bail by a Delhi court.

The court found that he had not tresspassed into her room in the five star hotel where the alleged incident took place on the intervening night of May 17-18, after a post-match party.

The court also directed the 27-year-old batsman, playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, not to approach the complainant woman.

In a related development, complainant Zohal Hameed sent RCB director Sidhartha Mallya legal notice for casting aspersions on her character in his tweets.

After watching the CCTV footage provided by the police, Metropolitan Magistrate Navita Kumari Bagha enlarged Pomersbach on bail and said that no offence under Section 452 of the IPC for “house-trespass or wrongful restraint” is made out against him.

The court granted him bail on a personal bond of Rs 30,000 along with two sureties of the like amount.

The magistrate directed the cricketer to surrender his passport before it and asked him not to leave the country without its prior permission.

“No material evidence for offence under section 452 of the IPC is made out against the accused. I am granting him bail on a personal bond of Rs 30,000 with two sureties,” the magistrate said.

During the arguments, police played the CCTV footage on a laptop inside the courtroom and also submitted the medical reports of Sahil, who is undergoing treatment in a private hospital here.

The alleged incident took place when Pomersbach had entered the room first accompanied by the woman, her fiance Sahil and one Miraj, the police said. In the second time, Pomersbach was holding a beer bottle in his left hand as his right hand was fractured during the alleged assault committed by him on the woman and Sahil.

The second time

During the second time, the police said Pomersbach and one of his friends forcefully entered the woman’s room but he was pushed back from inside.

The investigating officer said that the offence of 452 of the IPC (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint) is also made out against Pomersbach as he had forcefully entered the room with intention to cause hurt.

Senior advocate Ramesh Gupta, appearing for Pomersbach, said the police should explain how the offence under section 452 of the IPC is made out against his client.

Pressing for bail, Gupta said that they are not denying the presence of Pomersbach there but the entry into the room was friendly.

He said Pomersbach should be granted bail and if there is any apprehension that he may flee from justice, he would surrender his passport.

“Bail should be granted. But as he is a foreigner so the investigating officer or this court may have the apprehension of his fleeing, so in that case, he will surrender his passport,” Gupta said.

Pomersbach’s counsel said his client had no intention of fleeing from justice. Gupta said the court should keep in mind that the alleged incident took place between 4 and 5 am and the persons involved in it were in an inebriated state.

He said that no ground for arresting Pomersbach had been mentioned in the records.


“Even if any case is made out, the court should not send him to jail. For what purpose he will be sent to jail. Only because the media is interested in this case he should not be sent to jail,” the lawyer said.

During the arguments, the public prosecutor said that Pomersbach was “pre-determined” to commit the offence as he returned to the woman’s room for the second time.


Hameed also filed a complaint with the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) against the Mallya scion.

DCW chairperson Barkha Singh said she had received the complaint. “We have received a complaint from Zohail Hameed, and will send him (Mallya) a notice. Whatever has been written about her on twitter, all of that has been filed in the complaint and her lawyers are going to the court too. We are going to pick up this case in the commission,” Singh said Saturday.

Singh informed that Hameed was from America, while her father is from Afghanistan and mother is from Iran.

“I’m very upset, hurt and disappointed by Sidhartha’s comments posted on Twitter and it’s a false claim,” said Hameed who was spotted in black blazer and trousers and came in a white Mercedes car to Singh’s residence in Safdarjung Enclave in south Delhi.

Hameed has also sought Mallya’s unconditional apology, her advocate Jitender Garg said.


Meanwhile, a doctor attending on Sahil Peerzada said he could be discharged from the hospital on Sunday as his condition is now better.

Peerzada had been admitted to Primus Hospital in the diplomatic area Friday following the alleged assault by Pomersback.



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Agencies
February 4,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 4: Yashasvi Jaiswal and Divyaansh Saxena guided India to a comfortable ten wickets win over Pakistan in the ICC U19 World Cup semifinal at Senwes Park on Tuesday and progressed to the final of the tournament.

Chasing 173, Indian openers Jaiswal and Saxena played cautiously and stitched an unbeaten partnership of 176 runs.

The duo built the highest opening partnership of the tournament's history. Jaiswal, the left-handed batsman, scored his maiden century of the tournament as he amassed unbeaten 105 runs studded with eight fours and four sixes.

Saxena scored 59* off 99 balls including six fours. India chased down the total in 35.2 overs. This is the first time in the history of the U19 World Cup that a team won a knockout match by ten wickets.

Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat.

Opener Haider Ali and skipper Rohail Nazir's half-centuries guided the side to a respectable total of 172. Ali played a knock of 56 runs while Nazir accumulated 62 runs including six boundaries.

Pakistan did not have a good start as they lost Mohammad Hurair (4) in the second over. Fahad Munir, came to bat at number three, failed to score a single run and was departed by Ravi Bishnoi on a duck in ninth over.

Apart from Ali and Nazir, Mohammad Haris was the only batsman to score runs in double digits. He played an innings of 21 runs off 15 balls. Indian bowlers showed a spirited performance as they bowled out arch-rival in 43.1 overs.

Pacers Karthik Tyagi and Sushant Mishra bagged two and three wickets respectively. Spinner Ravi Bishnoi clinched two scalps and conceded 46 runs in his ten overs.

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Agencies
March 10,2020

Mumbai, Mar 10: The addition of two new members, including the chairman, in the national selection committee, has not changed the panel's stance on M S Dhoni, who will "have to perform" in the upcoming IPL to be considered for T20 World Cup selection, a top BCCI official told PTI.

The Sunil Joshi-led selection panel met for the first time in Ahmedabad on Sunday to pick a rather "straightforward" squad for the three ODIs against South Africa beginning in Dharamsala on March 12.

Fit-again Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shikhar Dhawan made their way back into the side.

Joshi's predecessor MSK Prasad had made it clear that the team has moved on from Dhoni and he has to first play to be considered for selection.

Dhoni, who has not played since the World Cup semi-final loss to New Zealand in July, will be making his highly-awaited comeback in the IPL beginning March 29.

"It was a pretty straightforward selection meeting and since Dhoni was obviously not in the reckoning this time (for South Africa series), there was no formal talk about his future," a BCCI source told PTI.

"He will be back in the reckoning only if he has a good IPL. And why only him, there are so many senior and young players who will play in the IPL. If they do well, they are ought to be considered too. So, you could see some surprise inclusions," he said.

The T20 World Cup will be played in Australia in October-November and the games India play after the IPL leading up to the mega event will also be a factor in the final squad selection.

"But the performance in the IPL could be the clincher," the source added.

Head coach Ravi Shastri too has hinted that Dhoni could be back after a good IPL but his future remains a subject of intense speculation as he has not played a game in more than seven months.

With his heir apparent Rishabh Pant not setting the world on fire and K L Rahul being groomed into a full-time wicketkeeper-batsman, Dhoni's comeback cannot be ruled out.

His countless fans will finally get to see him in action when he leads Chennai Super Kings against defending champions Mumbai Indians in the IPL opener at Wankhede Stadium on March 29.

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Agencies
January 11,2020

London, Jan 11: Former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's famous lap around the Wankhede Stadium after the World Cup 2011 win has been nominated in Laureas's list for the most inspiring sporting event in the last twenty years.

The moment featuring Tendulkar has been described as "Carried on the shoulders by a nation".

On his sixth attempt at the World Cup and with India not having won the competition since 1983, Tendulkar finally became a part of the team that lifted the coveted trophy. Carried on the shoulders of the Indian team, he made a lap of honour, shedding tears of joy after the victory was sealed in his home city.

The 2011 World Cup was also the first time, in which a host nation ended up winning the trophy.

Apart from Tendulkar, England's Andrew Flintoff is the only other cricketer to feature in the list. In 2005, England managed to defeat Australia in an Ashes Test, but Flintoff chose to first shake hands with Brett Lee rather than celebrate with his side.

Matthias Steiner (weightlifting), Natalie du Toit (swimming), Sky Brown (skateboarding), Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee (triathlon), Xia Boyu (mountaineering) have been nominated in the list.

Female tennis stars also feature in the list for coming up with an equal play, equal pay campaign. After pressure from Venus Williams and others, Wimbledon announced that female tennis players would receive prize money equal to the men's.

German international footballer Miroslav Klose was playing for Lazio in Italy's Serie A in 2012 against Napoli when he rose for a ball in the early moments of the game.

The ball came spiraling off his hand and skirted into the back of the net and a goal was awarded. While most players would carry on as if nothing had happened, Klose was honest with the referee and admitted that he handled the ball.

As a result, he also finds a place on the list.

The Laureus Sporting Moment Award celebrates the moments where the sport has unified people in the most extraordinary way.

This campaign has shortlisted 20 sporting stories from the last 20 years that have left their mark on the world.

The winner will be decided on the basis of public voting. It has already started, and the final date to cast the vote is February 16.

Finally, the result will be declared on February 17.
With three knock-out rounds, the top-20 moments will be whittled down to ten then five, with the top-five moments going head-to-head.

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