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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News Network
April 8,2020

London, Apr 8: England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler has raised more than 65,000 pound (USD 80,000) to help fight the coronavirus by auctioning off his World Cup final shirt.

Buttler's shirt, which he wore when completing the last-ball run-out that saw England beat New Zealand at Lord's last year, was sold to raise money for specialist heart and lung centres provided by the Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals in London.

Buttler, who earlier in the showpiece match had hit a fifty and batted in the Super Over, put his long-sleeve keeping jersey up for sale on eBay a week ago.

By the time the auction closed on Tuesday, the shirt had attracted 82 bids with the winner paying 65,100 pound.

Buttler, speaking on Monday, said: "It's a very special shirt but I think it takes on extra meaning with it being able to hopefully go to the emergency cause.

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News Network
January 7,2020

Indore, Jan 7: With the first T20I being washed out, India and Sri Lanka will now hope that rain gods stay away from the Holkar Stadium when the two teams face each other in the second match of the ongoing three-game series on Tuesday.

Only toss could take place on Sunday at Guwahati`s Barsapara Cricket Ground before rain gods came in and left damp spots on the pitch thus forcing the game to be called off without a ball being bowled.

Hairdryers were used to dry the pitch after water seeped in through leaking covers at the Barsapara Stadium, a sight which is not usually seen in international cricket. And that hasn`t gone down well with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) which now awaits chief curator Ashish Bhowmick`s report on the same.

The Men in Blue, who enjoyed a brief break, are coming into the series on the back of T20I series victories against Bangladesh and West Indies respectively and thus would be the more confident side out of the two.

Just like Guwahati, the team management and other Indian cricket fans would focus on comeback man Jasprit Bumrah who is making his return to international cricket. Bumrah has been out of action after India`s tour of the West Indies in July-August due to a stress fracture on his back and thus would be rearing to go and perform for the team.

Dhawan, like Bumrah, was not part of the West Indies series after he hurt his knee during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The left-handed opener was not at his absolute best in the T20I series against Bangladesh and faced criticism from several quarters.

While Bumrah will grab more eyeballs during the remaining two matches, the series is also important for left-handed opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan, making a comeback into the team post knee injury.

However, recently, he scored a century in the Ranji Trophy and showed glimpses of returning to form.

In the bowling department, the team management would be checking out how the likes Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur react to pressure situations in death overs alongside Bumrah in the absence of frontline speedsters Mohammed Shami Deepak Chahar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Young-off spinner Washington Sundar would like to put up performances to ensure that he gets to be part of the squad travelling to Australia for the World T20 in October.

Shivam Dube would also like to perform better - both with bat and ball - till Hardik Pandya is fully fit and back in action.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant - like recent times - will once again be watched with careful eyes. Pant knows that he cannot take things lightly and need to perform as Sanju Samson as already warmed the benches for six straight T20Is.

For Sri Lanka, the remaining two matches of the series would be about giving match practice to the likes of Angelo Mathews who is returning to the national side having last played a T20I against South Africa in August 2018

In their last T20I series, Sri Lanka suffered a 0-3 rout in Australia as all their three departments failed to put in a commanding performance.

India and Sri Lanka have faced each other in 17 T20Is, out of which India have won 11 -- joint most for them against all opponents faced in shortest format.

With the three-match series now effectively turning into a two-game affair, both India and Sri Lanka would want to win in Indore to make sure they can`t lose the series. Also, Sri Lanka have never beaten India in a bilateral T20I series, a record which they would desperately like to change in the remaining two games.

Squads:

India: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur, Manish Pandey, Washington Sundar, Sanju Samson.

Sri Lanka: Lasith Malinga (c), Dhanushka Gunathilaka, Avishka Fernando, Angelo Mathews, Dasun Shanaka, Kusal Perera, Niroshan Dickwella, Dhananjaya De Silva, Isuru Udana, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Oshada Fernando, Wanindu Hasaranga, Lahiru Kumara, Kusal Mendis, Lakshan Sandakan, Kasun Rajitha.

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News Network
June 27,2020

Jun 27: India's Test batting mainstay Cheteshwar Pujara cannot describe in words the influence that Rahul Dravid has had on his life but says he will always remain grateful to him for teaching the importance of switching off from cricket.

Often compared to Dravid, who was considered the 'wall' of Indian cricket, Pujara said he is thankful to Dravid for teaching him how to keep personal and professional lives separate.

"He helped me understand the importance of switching off from cricket. I had the same thought, more or less, but when I spoke to him, it gave me a lot of clarity about it and I was sure of what I needed to do," he told ESPNcricinfo.

"I also saw in county cricket how they keep personal and professional lives separate. I value that advice a lot. Many people consider me to be focused. Yes, I am focused, But I also know when to switch off. There is life beyond cricket."

In his illustrious international career, Dravid amassed 13288 runs in 164 Tests and 10889 runs in 344 ODIs. He also captained India in 79 ODIs, winning 42 of them, which includes the world record of 14 successive wins while chasing.

"I cannot say in one line what Rahul bhai means to me. He has always been an inspiration, and will remain one," Pujara said.

His mental fortitude and batting technique is often compared to Dravid but Pujara said "despite my enchantment with him" he never tried to "copy him."

"There is a similarity in our games, but that's not because of my fascination with him. That came mainly through my experiences with Saurashtra, where I learned that scoring a hundred alone isn't enough, you have to carry your team," he said.

"That is how I learned responsibility - it is about helping my team to raise a big total, and for that I ought to attach importance to my wicket. I learned that from my junior cricket days with Saurashtra, which was a weaker team in domestic cricket."

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