US national drops molestation charges against Luke Pomersbach

Zohal Hameed, the American national who had alleged that Royal Challengers Bangalore player Luke Pomersbach had molested her at a five-star hotel in New Delhi, has dropped all charges against the Australian cricketer, her lawyers confirmed. Ms Hameed's lawyers said there has been an out of court settlement in this matter.

Royal Challengers Bangalore's Director Sidhartha Mallya tweeted late on Wednesday night, "So glad that all charges have been dropped and Luke can return down under A FREE MAN!"

Mr Pomersbach was arrested last Friday after Ms Hameed alleged he molested her and hit her fiance Sahil Peerzada when he objected to the cricketer's behaviour. Mr Pomersbach was arrested and later granted bail by the court.

Other Royal Challengers Bangalore players like KP Appanna, along with the coach and manager of the IPL franchise had also been questioned by the Delhi Police after Ms Hameed had complained that she was being threatened to withdraw her complaint.

Mr Peerzada's brother Pheroz on Wednesday morning had claimed that they do not want to pursue the case, though he insisted that Mr Pomersbach should not have done what he did. "He should have respect for women. Luke has done a blunder. He should apologise and we should also forgive and forget.

"We don't want to pursue against Luke. We have not been pressurised by anyone. No one has approached us," he told a TV channel.

He also said they do not want to pursue a case against Sidhartha Mallya whose tweets, casting aspersions on Ms Hameed's character, created another controversy.

He also rebutted Ms Hameed's claim that she was Mr Peerzada's fiancee. "Whatever happened was most unfortunate. Officially I am saying, Sahil is not engaged to Zohal," he said.

Reports also suggest that Ms Hameed is also planning to withdraw the legal notice issued against Mr Mallya in which she had seeked his apology for his tweets.

(With inputs from PTI)