Kadyan not afraid of being arrested in Pataudi case
Maneesh Chhibber
Our High Court Correspondent
 Mr Naresh Kumar Kadyan and his counsel in the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday in Chandigarh. — Tribune photo by Pradeep Tiwari |
Chandigarh, June 14
Without him, the alleged poaching case involving former Indian cricket captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi might not have hit headlines. Without him, the case may well have been received a silent burial. After all, it was his persistence that built public pressure on the police to book Mr Pataudi and others for the alleged crime.
But, today, he himself is wanted by the police for his role, controversial some might say, in the digging of the carcasses of the animals allegedly killed by Pataudi and his accomplices and taking them to the Delhi zoo for a post-mortem examination.
Meet, Mr Naresh Kumar Kadyan, Chairman of the Haryana chapter of the People for Animals. Though he claims to be on the run, evading the police who, he adds, is working overtime to arrest him, Mr Kadyan turns up in the most convenient of the places.
If some days ago, he was photographed at a Panchkula police station, today he was present at the Punjab and Haryana High Court, where hearing of Pataudi’s pre-arrest bail plea was taking place.
“I may be arrested anytime. But, I am not worried. Whatever the police may say, the truth is that they are under intense public pressure,” he told The Tribune. Incidentally, Mr Kadyan had also moved the High Court for anticipatory bail. Some objection in the petition led to the withdrawal of the same and he is still to file a fresh writ.
Claiming that he is being pressured into getting off the case, Mr Kadyan says he has also been offered huge sums of money. “But, I told them to do whatever they could. I will see to it that this case reaches its logical conclusion,” he asserts.
He maintains that he was forced to intervene in the matter as the matter was likely to be hushed up. “Within days, the black buck would have been replaced with a blue bull. Tell me, why were the accused not arrested immediately after the recovery of the carcasses? Why wasn’t a post-mortem examination got done?” he asks.
Mr Kadyan also alleges that Mr Pataudi and his friends have been regularly coming to Haryana on a shooting expedition. “If they (wildlife authorities) visit his house in New Delhi, they will find many animal trophies,” he alleges.
But, didn’t he take the law into is own hands by “stealing government property” and obstructing government duty? “Whose crime is bigger, mine or theirs? I did what had to be done and I don’t repent,” he says.
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