Pataudi surrenders before court

Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, the former Indian captain embroiled in a controversy surrounding the hunting of an endangered black buck, has surrendered before a Jhajjar Court in Haryana. Pataudi, accused of violating the Wildlife Protection Act, had been incommunicado for several days.

Pataudi's surrender comes a day after the Punjab and Haryana High Court rejected his application for anticipatory bail, the Press Trust of India reported. Pataudi is among six accused in the alleged hunting of one black buck and two rabbits, but is the only involved in this case to surrender.

Hanief Qureshi, a senior superintendent of police, said that the next course of action depended on the directions from the courts.

The police had earlier conducted raids simultaneously in multiple locations in search of Pataudi, but had failed to find him. If convicted Pataudi faces a jail term of upto seven years and a fine of Rupees 25000.