Indian Premier League (IPL) player Luke Pomersbach was arrested Friday for allegedly molesting an American woman in a five-star hotel in the capital and beating her fiance, who was hospitalised with severe injuries.
The Australian player from the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) team is alleged to have molested the woman at the ITC Maurya hotel here. Her fiance Sahil Peerzada, who is in his 30s, was beaten up by the player when he tried to stop him and was admitted to Primus hospital in the diplomatic area of the national capital, police said.
“A case has been registered. Luke is in custody and he will be produced in the court. The lady has complained that Pomersbach had molested her and after he had left the room he came back again and tried to force his entry into the room,” Additional Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) K.C. Dwivedi said.
Pomersbach was taken to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital for a medical checkup and would be produced in the Patiala House court later in the day.
Doctors attending to Peerzada said that his condition was stable but he may suffer from hearing loss in his left ear.
“His CT scan was normal… the current condition of the patient is stable but he is complaining of loss of hearing in the left ear and it will take some time to find out what the reason is,” Primus executive director D.K. Baluja said.
Another doctor, Deep Makkar, said that Peerzada had head injuries and “blood coming out of his ears”.
Giving details of the incident, the woman told a television channel that the incident happened when Pomersbach, along with some others, joined them for a drink. She also alleged that the hotel staff did not cooperate with her in calling the police.
RCB owner Vijay Mallya said he regretted the incident. “RCB will give full cooperation to authorities for fair investigation and so that the case if disposed of in accordance with law. He (Pomersbach) won’t be taking the field till the matter is sorted out.”
The IPL management, which just a day earlier was fielding questions on the fracas between Shah Rukh Khan and security personnel and officials at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, said it was not responsible for the behaviour of individual players.
IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla said: “We are not responsible for behaviour of individuals in hotels … what somebody was doing in some hotel we have nothing to do with it. IPL is not hosting any party.. we have done way with such parties and there was no official party.”
Pomersbach, a left-handed batsman, has been playing since the first edition of the IPL. He started with Mumbai Indians and later moved to Kings XI Punjab and then to RCB. He hasn’t made much of a mark and is yet to play a match in IPL-V.
