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
July 21,2020

Melbourne, Jul 21: Cricket Australia's chief executive Nick Hockley has said that the Indian players and staff will most likely be asked to face two weeks of quarantine before the four-match Test series.

This scenario will bring the Adelaide Oval and its newly constructed hotel firmly into view as the sort of biosecure bubble, ESPNCricinfo reported.

India and Australia are slated to face each other in a four-match Test series, which is to begin from December 4 at Brisbane.

"The two-week quarantine is pretty well-defined. What we are working on is making sure that even within that quarantine environment, the players have got the absolute best training facilities, so that their preparation for the matches is as optimal as it can possibly be," ESPNCricinfo quoted Hockey as saying.

"Certainly the fact that the Adelaide Oval has a hotel. It does provide a facility not dissimilar to Old Trafford or Ageas Bowl where the hotels are integrated into the venue," he added.

Hockley also said that an exacting standard of biosecurity and testing would be applied before the series against India as the coronavirus cases are spiking in the subcontinent.

"It's widely known and it's unlikely that international travel restrictions would have lifted by the time that India will be due to come into the country. Clearly there will be testing regimes. We will be able to test people before that they get on to the plane and it is the nature of the situation of making sure we have the quarantine arrangements in line with government and health authority protocols," Hockley said.

"The key thing for the players is that there's regular testing and that we appropriately quarantine them when they come in and all of those plans are currently in development," he added.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday announced the postponement of the T20 World Cup 2020 slated to be held in Australia from October 18-November 15 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Following the announcement, the BCCI is likely to go ahead with the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the October-November window. However, it is known where the T20 tournament will be played as cases continue to rise in India.
"I think the BCCI has made no secrets that they are considering what that means for the IPL. For us, it's about getting a bit of an understanding and certainty around what that means. Clearly, in a normal course, some of our best players are obviously top picks for those IPL teams," Hockley said.

"It's a bit premature to speculate on that. We need to understand what the plans are if any and once we understand that we will make decisions accordingly," he added.

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Agencies
June 8,2020

New Delhi, Jun 8: Indian pacer S Sreesanth has slammed England all-rounder Ben Stokes for questioning MS Dhoni's intent during a World Cup match, saying that the former captain will end Stokes' career.

Stokes in his book titled 'On Fire' had questioned Dhoni's intent during India's 31-run defeat at the hands of England in the premier tournament last year.

"For Ben Stokes, I will only say that you should pray that Dhoni does not play against you in the future. Dhoni does not forget things easily," Sreesanth said during a Live session on Helo.

"I wish Stokes all the best for whenever he faces Dhoni again, be it IPL or an England vs India match. You must be earning in millions now, Dhoni Bhai will end your career. Dhoni will strike the ball everywhere and he (Stokes) can never dismiss Dhoni. Before he (Stokes) opens his mouth, he should make sure to wear a helmet," he added.

Former West Indies pacer Michael Holding had also come out in support of Dhoni and said that the wicket-keeper batsman wanted to win the match against England.

"Well, people will write anything in books these days, because people are a lot more free with their opinions and when they are writing books, they need to be making headlines at times," Holding had said on his official YouTube channel.

"...It was not the game that India had to win, but I don't think anyone can say that was a team tactic to lose the game. I watched that game and it appeared to me as if India weren't putting up their 100 percent, but I realised it was not the case when the expression on MS Dhoni's face told me that he desperately wanted to win, so I do not think it was a team decision to not try to win," he had added.

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Agencies
January 25,2020

Headingley, Jan 25: England have become the first team in the world to score 500,000 runs in Test cricket. They achieved the feat during the ongoing fourth and final Test against South Africa being played at The Wanderers.

On Friday - the opening day of the Test match -- England captain Joe Root's single through the covers took the Three Lions to a landmark 500,000 run-mark in the longest format of the game. They achieved the feat in their 1022nd Test match.

Australia comes second in the list, with 432,706 runs in 830 Tests. India, meanwhile, are third, with 273,518 runs in 540 Tests, followed by West Indies (270,441 runs in 545 Tests).

In the third Test played at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth, England had become the first team to play 500 Test matches on foreign soil. Australia are the second team to play the most away Test with 404 matches they have played so far.

India have played 268 Tests on foreign soil in which they have won 51, lost 113 and 104 have ended in a draw.

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