Former world squash champion Jansher Khan sent to jail

LAHORE: Pakistan’s squash legend Jansher Khan was arrested on Thursday and taken to the Peshawar Central Jail after a local court cancelled his pre-arrest bail.

Khan, who allegedly assaulted and threatened to kill a woman and her family with an unlicensed shotgun, had obtained interim bail after assuring the court of an out-of-court settlement. However, he failed to settle the issue prompting the session judge Ehtesham Khan to strike down his interim bail. Jansher and three other co-accused — including his brother in law — were arrested, handcuffed and taken to the jail in a police van. Rukhsana, a resident of Peshawar and the ‘victim’ of Jansher’s assault, had alleged that the squash star and five others injured and harassed her family. “They thrashed me and tore my clothes,” she charged.

Jansher denied the charges and claimed that he was in Islamabad when the alleged incident took place. But the police registered a case against the Pathan under six different sections which carry punishment up to death sentence. Sources say the incident was the result of a failed money-deal involving Rukhsana’s brother-in-law Abdul Shakoor who had taken a loan of Rs 10 lakh from Khan on the condition that he would pay mark-up equal to that of banks. He claimed to have paid Rs 17 lakh but Jansher was still ‘demanding’ Rs 40 lakh.