Arrogant ruthless lifestyle gets a pause – Pataudi surrenders for killing endangered wildlife and hiding the black buck
Arvind Sharma
Jun. 18, 2005

Pataudi finally surrendered as he and his family came to the conclusion that there was no way to run out of India after killing the black buck. It is a major criminal act to kill endangered wild life in India and then hide the same in the trunk of the car.

But what is really on trial here is the ruthless, arrogant lifestyle of some Indians with inherited fortunes. What is on trial is not only what Pataudi did, but also what people like him do and how far they go to hide their lawlessness.

According to Press trust of India, former Indian cricket captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, who was remanded to police custody for a day following his surrender in the black buck poaching case on Saturday, would be questioned by both police and forest officials and taken to the site of the alleged incident.

"Whatever points were left out during the investigation, police will try to clear them up during his police remand. Pataudi will be taken to the place where the actual hunting took place," said Jhajjar Superintendent of Police Hanif Qureshi at a press conference, after Pataudi was sent to police custody for questioning.

The spot of the alleged black buck-hunting incident is about seven km from Jhajjar.

Qureshi said a .22 bore gun, bought legally, and was one of the weapons seized, whose licence has not yet been submitted to the police. "We will try to establish the ownership of the weapon by questioning Pataudi about whether he owned the gun," he said.

If no licence is recovered, then Arms Act can also be applied in the case, he added. He said police and forest officials of DFO rank would question Pataudi.

Terming Pataudi's surrender a "major achievement" for Jhajjar Police, he said, "Our case was so strong, because of which the High Court did not give anticipatory bail and today the Jhajjar Court remanded him to one-day police custody."

"Pataudi is cooperating in the investigation," he said, adding his members were not questioned by the police.

After Pataudi's surrender, it may now be easier to nab the other accused, Qureshi said, adding teams were on the hunt for the other six accused in the case.

Asked where the former skipper will be housed, he said, "We have made some arrangements for his stay in the Jhajjar Police Station." And given his health condition, he has been given medicines also, Qureshi added.

He said a decision to apply for more remand would depend of the outcome of Saturday's interrogation.

On the recoveries made on June three, he said there was a .22 bore gun, a double barrel gun belonging to one Shashi Singh, search lights, a Swiss knife and carcasses of a black buck and two hares.

The recovery of the carcass of the black buck was the biggest evidence, he added.

On why the accused were let off in the first place, he said at that point it was not established whether the animal was a black buck. It was also believed that given their status, they would cooperate later if called upon, he said.

On June four, the post-mortem of the animals was carried out, which revealed that one of them was a black buck.

"A committee was formed to carry out the post-mortem, which consisted of a Wildlife Inspector, a local tehsildar and a veterinary surgeon," he said.

After the post-mortem, the animal was skinned and the carcass was buried and the skin burnt as per Wildlife rules.

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