Additional District and Sessions Judge Dharampal today dismissed the application for anticipatory bail filed by one of the eight accused in the infamous Nawab of Pataudi poaching case.

Mr Shashi Singh, Chief Executive Officer of a New Delhi-based company, had filed an application seeking anticipatory bail on Tuesday. The case was listed for hearing today.

The accused had pleaded that he was not connected with the case and that he had not played any specific role in the incident. Besides, no carcass was recovered from his possession.

He also said that there was an inordinate delay in registering the FIR and that the only accused who had been arrested in this case so far – Madan Singh – had in his statement not stated that he indulged in poaching.

The public prosecutor opposed the application on several grounds. He stated that the court had no jurisdiction in the case since such cases had to be tried at the Special Environment Court set up by a government notification issued on February 2, 1997, at Faridabad.

The prosecution added that the applicant was a member of the team that was caught carrying the carcasses of the hunted animals and that if freed on bail he would try to tamper with evidence and influence witnesses.

After hearing the two sides, the judge dismissed the plea “without commenting on merits of the case” for want of jurisdiction. The applicant can now file a fresh application before the special court at Faridabad.

However, in the wake of this judgement, legal opinion is now divided on whether the police should file the challan after investigations are completed in a local court or the special court at Faridabad.

Meanwhile, none of the seven missing accused, including former cricketer M. A. K. Pataudi, have so far responded to the police summonses. They were earlier asked to appear before the investigating officer by June 7. The deadline was extended on that day to June 10.

In between, the police raided the Delhi house of the Nawab of Pataudi and had recovered a Gypsy used in the commissioning of the crime.