Delhi HC declines bail to Gujarat cricketer

The Delhi High Court has refused to grant interim anticipatory bail immediately to cricketer Jacob Joseph Martin,who had represented Indian cricket team in 1999,but directed the city police to file a status report in a case against him for allegedly forging documents to facilitate illegal immigration.

Declining the plea of Martin,an Indian Railways batsman who had played 10 One-Day Internationals for India,for an immediate direction to the Delhi Police not to arrest him in the case as he would co-operate in the investigation,Justice Hima Kohli sought a report from the police by March 9.

The court order came on Martin’s plea challenging the trial court’s order dismissing his anticipatory bail recently.

The cricketer,38,who debuted against West Indies in 1999 in Toronto,moved the bail plea after the trial court issued a non-bailable warrant against him and also initiated proceedings to declare him a proclaimed offender for failing to join the investigation. In the petition,Martin claimed he is a well-known cricketer and innocent and has not indulged in any such offence.