He wanted to watch match up close, says father of man who ‘invaded’ Ranji pitch

delhi

Updated: Nov 05, 2017 09:11 IST

The family of a man, who drove his car onto the cricket pitch while a Ranji Trophy match was in progress at the Indian Air Force ground in Palam, said he was a “cricket enthusiast” who was merely tempted to watch a match up close.

AK Sharma, the father of ‘pitch inavder’ Girish Kumar, claimed his son wasn’t even aware that a Ranji game with international stars was taking place when he drove on to the ground on Friday.

AK Sharma said it was the job of the Indian Air Force personnel to secure the entry gate and his son Girish was allegedly caught unaware while driving all the way to the ground.

“He was coming after dropping his sister to the airport and happened to see a cricket match. Since the ground was accessible, he drove inside with no wrong intent. Once there, it dawned on him that he had just gatecrashed a premier domestic level tournament match and that several international stars he follows were present at the venue, ” said Sharma, a doctor.

He added that once Girish sensed that it was a Ranji match with international stars, he wanted to meet them. But, before he could walk up to them, he was stopped by security and handed to the police.

The police booked Girish for trespass, a bailable offence, after the station security officer filed a complaint. Prima facie there was no evidence of any major security breach at a Ranji Game, said DCP (southwest) Shibesh Singh.

Girish was questioned by the police and let off. But that did not stop people from trolling him online.

“Get over streakers and dogs.. In Delhi, a Ranji Trophy game was halted as a man drove car onto the pitch @BCCI,” said Twitter user Navneet Mundhra after the incident.

Delhi pacer Ishant Sharma was not too amused by the incident either.

“Drive in theater just progressed to #DriveIn match. Shocking scene in between #RanjiTrophy match today witnessed with @GautamGambhir,” Sharma tweeted later.

On Friday, among the big names present at the ground were the likes of Ishant Sharma, Gautam Gambhir, Rishabh Pant for Delhi and Suresh Raina for UP.

Girish’s father said his son wanted to meet the cricket stars but was whisked away by security personnel and subjected to eight-hours of questioning by the police before they finally let him go.

The police had on Friday said Girish was depressed due to a marital discord.

“It’s sad that jokes are being made, but there is little we can do when online trolls have not even spared the Prime Minister of this country,” AK Sharma said.

He added that the police on Friday had summoned him to the station and he had to leave his bed-ridden wife unattended at home to be by his son. Girish’s mother had falled from the first floor of the building a fortnight ago and sustained a fracture.

AK Sharma alleged that his son had no malicious intent and also dismissed reports of Girish being mentally unstable and refused to say if a marital discord had allegedly left him depressed. Girish could not be contacted for a comment.