Pataudi's bail plea rejected

Refusing to grant interim bail to former Indian cricket captain Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi in the black buck hunting case, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued a notice to the Haryana government to produce all documents pertaining to the case on Friday.

"No interim order will be passed," vacation judge, Justice Rajive Bhalla, told Pataudi's counsel Dinesh Mathur when he pressed for an interim order on anticipatory bail pleas of Pataudi and Shashi Singh, a co-accused in the case.

Issuing a notice to the Haryana government, the judge asked it to state "what it has done and what it has not done" and to produce all papers, including the post mortem report of the killed animals, in the court on Friday.

Pataudi and seven others have been booked under various sections of the Wildlife Protection Act for alleged hunting of endangered animals near a wildlife sanctuary in Jhajjar in Haryana on June 3.

If found guilty, they face imprisonment up to seven years and a fine of Rs 25,000. But Pataudi has denied the charge in his bail plea. The arguments in the case lasted for over 45 minutes.

Earlier, the judge had adjourned the hearing till 11.30 am after counsel for People for Animals, impleaded for becoming party in the case so as to oppose the bail pleas of the accused.

Pataudi's counsel also opposed the application moved by Naresh Kadiyan, the state unit president of the People for Animals contending that an FIR had been registered against Kadiyan by police for stealing property related to the case.

However, the judge observed that "both parties have to be given level playing field."

Asserting that Pataudi and Shashi Singh were ready to join the investigation, Mathur said the FIR registered in this case had failed to disclose whether any offences were made under the Wildlife Protection Act.

He also claimed that police had "no jurisdiction" to investigate the case. When the judge asked what had prevented Pataudi from joining the investigation, the counsel said he had apprehension that he would be arrested.