Nawab’s Saturday night in Jhajjar police station

Oldtimers claim that a big portion of the sleepy town of Jhajjar was once a part of the erstwhile Pataudi riyasat. So as the Nawab of Pataud...

Oldtimers claim that a big portion of the sleepy town of Jhajjar was once a part of the erstwhile Pataudi riyasat. So as the Nawab of Pataudi prepared to spend Saturday night in a small room inside the Jhajjar Police Station, the sense of animation in and around the premises was unmistakable.

For, 15 days after he was caught and then let off by the police following the recovery of carcasses of a black buck and two hares from his vehicle, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi surrendered today.

The surrender, imminent after his plea seeking anticipatory bail was rejected by the Punjab and Haryana High Court yesterday, came around noon at the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court in Jhajjar. The court sent Pataudi to police custody for two hours, following which, he was again produced before the CJM at his residence.

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This time, the court remanded Pataudi into police custody for one day. Under heavy media glare, Pataudi was then rushed to the Jhajjar Police Station, located in the heart of the town, and lodged there. ‘‘Our client surrendered within a few hours of his anticipatory bail being rejected,’’ said Pataudi’s counsel Bhushan Arya.

Once he surrendered, the police moved an application seeking interrogation.

‘‘While producing him again, the police sought a remand for two days but the court only gave a one-day remand,’’ Arya said. ‘‘We have applied for regular bail in the CJM’s court and a notice has been issued to the State of Haryana. The bail plea will be taken up once the State files its reply,’’ he added.

‘‘During the one day remand, our main focus would be to get the place of crime identified (nishandehi) and also to recover the license of the .22 bore gun recovered from Pataudi,’’ Jhajjar police chief Haneef Qureshi said.

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He made it clear that Pataudi was not being kept inside the lock-up. ‘‘There is a Male Lock-Up and a Female Lock-Up inside the police station. And there are separate rooms. Pataudi has been lodged in one of the rooms,’’ said Qureshi.

The room has a bed, a couple of chairs and a fan. ‘‘We have provided him with Bisleri water, food and have also allowed access to a doctor and his legal counsel,’’ Qureshi added.

Asked if Pataudi would be provided with an AC or a room cooler given the heat, Qureshi replied in the negative. ‘‘The police station is quite a cool place,’’ he added as an afterthought. ‘‘We may provide him with books or magazines if wants.’’

Located in the middle of a bustling bazaar, the Jhajjar Police Station continued to attract the attention of locals, many of them camping outside its maingate just to catch a glimpse of the Nawab. Many of them got lucky when Pataudi was taken to the local Civil Hospital in the evening for a medical check-up as part of standard procedure.