Chandigarh, June 6: Former Indian cricket captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi has been formally accused in a criminal case of poaching registered by the Jhajjar police in Haryana on Monday, and now faces arrest with the post-mortem report confirming that the dead animals found in the vehicle he was travelling were a black buck and two rabbits.
"Tiger" Pataudi and seven others — Shashi Singh, Dyal Singh, Balwan Singh, Shahid Ahmad, Mohammad Ayub, Yasudin and Madan — have been charged under Sections 9, 39 and 5 of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. The charges pertain to the illegal hunting of wild animals.
If convicted in the case, Tiger Pataudi and the others could face up to seven years in jail and a fine of Rs 25,000. The former cricket captain and his associates, who had allegedly been hunting in the Jhajjar area, were intercepted by the police on Friday night. The carcasses of a black buck and two wild rabbits were recovered from their possession. The police also confiscated two hunting guns and 50 live cartridges from them.
After a post-mortem conducted on the dead animals by the veterinary surgeon at Jhajjar confirmed they had in fact been hunted down with the weapons found in possession of Tiger Pataudi and his friends, the police moved swiftly to arrest one of the accused, Balwan Singh, a Jhajjar resident who is believed to have acted as a local guide for the cricketer’s hunting party.
With speculation rife that an attempt was being made to "protect" Tiger Pataudi, Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda went on record on Monday saying that there was no pressure on the police and that the law would take its own course.
The superintendent of police, Jhajjar, Mr Hanif Qureshi, told this newspaper that a police party would shortly be sent to interrogate Pataudi and his other friends in New Delhi. He said the cricketer and the others would soon be chargesheeted and would face arrest unless they managed to secure bail.
Meanwhile, adding a curious twist to the story, a local Haryana voluntary activist, Naresh Kadian, forcibly took away the carcass of the black buck from the veterinary hospital at Jhajjar. Claiming that the Haryana police would try and save Pataudi from conviction, the NGO activist carried away the dead animal for a second post-mortem in New Delhi. The Haryana police has registered a second FIR against Mr Kadian, charging him with robbery.
