From Tihar Jail to acquittal: The 22-year ordeal of a former India cricketer

By Army jaat

**A Clean Chit After 22 Years: Jacob Martin Cleared in UK Tour Case** 🙏 What a story of resilience, folks. Let me break it down for you. **The Verdict** Former India batsman Jacob Martin has been acquitted in a 22-year-old criminal case linked to a controversial 2004 cricket tour of the UK. The Patiala House Court in Delhi cleared him of all charges—forgery, cheating, criminal conspiracy, and Passport Act offences. The case dated back to a 2004 FIR under Sections 420, 468, 471, and 120B of the IPC, plus Section 12 of the Passport Act. Prosecutors alleged a forged UK immigration stamp and dubious travel deals. None of it held up. Witness after witness failed to back the case, and it collapsed. **From Ranji Star to India Caps** Martin built his name as one of domestic cricket's most dependable middle-order batsmen. His breakout came in the 1998-99 Ranji Trophy when he crossed 1,000 runs—becoming only the sixth batter in history to do so that season. His first-class career dwarfs his international one: 138 matches, 9,000+ runs, 23 centuries, avg above 46. He captained Baroda to the 2000-01 Ranji title (still their most recent). But at the international level, it never took off—10 ODIs, 158 runs at 22.57 between 1999-2001. **The Tour That Changed Everything** By Martin's account, it began when a team of his travelled to the UK in 2004. Most players returned, but one boy overstayed his 6-month visa and got a fake immigration stamp done through a contact. He was deported and questioned at IGI Airport. Martin insists his name wasn't even in the original FIR—he was pulled in later "because the name was big and I was an international cricketer." Police told a different story, alleging Martin and an associate arranged the trip with money involved, using Ajwa Sports Club as a "bogus outfit." There were even suggestions of human trafficking. None of it stood up in court. **The Toll** Martin was arrested and spent time in Tihar Jail as the case crawled through the system. He lost his Railways job and never got a foothold with the BCCI. In December 2018, he was also badly injured in a road accident—lung and liver damaged, nearly a month in ICU. Former teammates rallied to help. After 22 years, Martin finally has a clean chit. It won't undo the lost years, but it gives him something he hadn't had in a long while—a life defined by more than a case hanging over him. *What's your take on the pressure athletes face from public scrutiny during legal battles?* Source: Times of India