Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi was granted bail by the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court here today even as CJM Sudhir Jeewan revealed that a call had been made to his house demanding that the former Indian captain be denied bail.DSP Sumit Kuhar said Jeewan’s wife took the threatening call that was made before noon. ‘‘The magistrate said an English-speaking person threatened his wife if he granted bail to Pataudi,’’ he said. Jhajjar Police were waiting till late in the evening for a formal complaint to begin investigations.Pataudi was granted bail on a Rs 50,000 surety after the magistrate heard arguments for nearly an hour. ‘‘We told the court that since another accused, Madan Singh, had already been granted bail, there was no reason it should be denied to our client,’’ Bhushan Arya, the former cricketer’s counsel, said. The next hearing is on September 15.The court rejected the plea of the All India Bishnoi Mahasabha, People for Animals and the Wildlife Trust of India that the offence be considered under Section 57 of the Wildlife Protection Act.Shyam Sundar Goel, Pataudi’s counsel at Jhajjar, said the accused had never absconded. ‘‘Once he used his right to seek anticipatory bail, which was denied by Punjab & Haryana High Court, he surrendered within 24 hours on his own.’ Goel said the post-mortem had proved “the blackbuck had no bullet injuries and died of haemorrhage”.The defence counsel produced records to prove the accused had health problems and Pataudi was later taken to the local hospital for a routine examination after he complained of breathlessness and stomach ache. Pataudi was then produced in court, where police sought his judicial custody. Earlier, police set out with Pataudi for New Delhi to get the registration papers of the Gypsy it had seized before someone from the Nawab’s camp gave them the papers even before the team had left.‘On gun licence, Pataudi is retainer’Jhajjar DSP Sumit Kuhar has confirmed that the .22 bore gun recovered from Pataudi on June 3 is licensed in daughter Soha’s name even though “the licence mentions Pataudi as the retainer” of the weapon. “Even Pataudi’s photo is there on the licence which we seized from the office of the Gurgaon DC. The license had been submitted to the DC office in connection with Pataudi wanting to buy a new weapon,’’ said Kuhar.
