An IPL team cricket player arrested for molesting an Indian American woman

New Delhi, May 18 (PTI) The on-going Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 limited overs cricket tournament was today rocked by a scandal when a player of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) team, Luke Pomersbach, was arrested for allegedly molesting an Indian American woman and severely beating up her fiancee. The 27-year-old Pomersbach's conduct prompted the team owner Vijay Mallya to suspend the batsman, who has not played a single IPL match so far this season, till the time he is cleared of the charges. RCB team was in Delhi for playing its IPL match against Delhi Daredevils team on Thursday night, which the team won. The incident comes two days after cine star and Kolkata Knight Riders team co-owner Shah Rukh Khan's scuffle with officials of the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) officials, which has prompted MCA to ban Khan from its Wankhede Cricket Stadium in Mumbai for five years. The Australian player allegedly misbehaved with the woman, a US citizen, at a five-star hotel here early this morning and has been arrested, the police said. The victim claimed that the player invited himself for some drinks with the couple and some common friends from Mumbai in their room. She left the men alone and went to her bedroom for catching some sleep but Luke followed her and misbehaved with her, she alleged. When her fiancee intervened, Luke allegedly beat him up, she said. The woman's fiancee has been admitted to a hospital where a CT scan has been done, doctors attending to him said. The woman claimed that pressure is being mounted on her to withdraw the case but she will not do so. "The RCB is aware of the incident involving one of our players. RCB will offer full cooperation to the authorities. Till the time he is cleared, Luke Pomersbach will not be part of RCB," RCB owner Vijay Mallya told reporters. IPL authorities sought to distance themselves from the incident with Chairman Rajiv Shukla saying the event had nothing to with this because it did not happen in any party organised by it. "Let the law take its course," he added. "There were no official parties in IPL 4 and 5. So the incident was not connected with an official IPL party. It was an individual misbehaviour of an individual player," he told reporters. Pomersbach, who made his international debut when he was called into Australia's Twenty20 side in Perth in December 2007, has a history of misbehaviour under the influence of alcohol. In 2009, after two hit-and-run incidents, Pomersbach was arrested and charged by police for driving with a blood alcohol level in excess of permissible limits, failing to stop and accompany police and escaping legal custody. He pleaded guilty and was fined and had his driver's license cancelled. The Western Australian Cricket Association suspended him indefinitely. He returned from his ban in January 2010. PTI