Saying no to Pataudi bail plea, High Court asks for records

If found guilty, the accused face seven years in prison and a fine of Rs 25,000.

Pataudi and Shashi Singh, one of his co-accused, had approached the High Court to seek anticipatory bail. Pleading innocence in his bail plea, Pataudi had claimed that he was falsely implicated.

After hearing the arguments in a jam-packed court, Justice Rajive Bhalla said: ‘‘No interim order will be passed in case relating to anticipatory bail.’’ He also directed the Haryana Government file a reply about its stand in the form of an affidavit.

The complainant, Naresh Kumar Kadian, Master Trainer, AWBI and Nodal Inspecting Authority of Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, was also present at the hearing.

In his complaint, Kadian said the Jhajjar Police has been manipulating and destroying vital evidence in the case—all because a celebrity was involved in the hunting of a Schedule-I wild animal of Haryana.

Pataudi’s counsel Dinesh Mathur had argued that the FIR did not specify who had hunted the black buck or what was recovered from the petitioners.

To this, the Haryana state counsel replied that the animal carcasses and teh revolver used in the hunt were seized from Pataudi’s Gypsy. He also denied all charges of tampering with evidence.

Yesterday, the case was assigned for hearing before Justice M M Kumar, but he refused to accept it on the plea that one of the accused had been his client when he was an advocate.