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
May 4,2020

May 4: Yuzvendra Chahal is among the best leg-spinners in international cricket right now but he can be more effective with better use of the crease, says former Pakistan spinner Mushtaq Ahmed.

Ahmed picked Chahal, Australia's Adam Zampa and Pakistan's Shadab Khan among the top leg-spinners in white-ball cricket.

"Chahal as been impressive. He is definitely among the top leg-spinners of the world. And I feel he would be more effective if he uses the crease a lot more," Ahmed said.

Ahmed, who has coached all around the world and is currently a consultant for his native team, said India's ability to take wickets in the middle-overs in the limited overs format through Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav has been a game-changer for them.

Both the wrist-spinners were brought into India's limited overs set-up following the 2017 Champions Trophy. Though, of late, both Chahal and Kuldeep havn't been playing together.

"He (Chahal) can go wide of the crease at times. You got to be smart enough to understand pitches. If it is a flat pitch, you can bowl stump to stump," said Ahmed, one of the best leg-spinners Pakistan has produced.

"If the ball is gripping, you can go wide of the crease because you can trouble even the best of batsmen with that angle. That way your googly also doesn't turn as much as the batsman expects and you end up taking a wicket."

Chahal has taken 91 wickets in 52 ODIs at 25.83 and 55 wickets in 42 T20s at 24.34. He is not a huge turner of the ball but uses his variations very effectively.

Ahmed also feels the likes of Chahal and Kuldeep have benefitted immensely from former captain M S Dhoni's advice from behind the stumps.

"You have got to be one step ahead of the batsman. You should know your field position as per the batsman's strength. I always say attack with fielders not with the ball. If you understand that theory, you will always be successful," the 49-year-old, who played 52 Tests and 144 ODIs, said.

"India has become a force to reckon with in all three formats as it uses its bowlers really well. Dhoni was a master at getting the best out of his bowlers in limited overs cricket and now you have Virat Kohli."

He also said the art of leg-spin remains relevant more than ever.

"You need leg-spinners and mystery spinners in your team as they have the ability to take wickets at any stage of the game. I see a lot of them coming through in the next 10-15 years.

"Most batsmen now like playing express pace but with a good leg-spinner in the team, you are always in the game," added member of the 1992 World Cup-winning squad.

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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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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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