India court drops Pomersbach 'assault' case after settlement

Pomersbach was granted bail but ordered not to leave India

The Delhi High Court has allowed an American woman, who had accused an Australian cricketer of molesting her at a city hotel, to drop the case after she settled out of court.

Zohal Hamid had also accused Luke Pomersbach of assaulting her fiance Sahil Peerzada.

The trio told the court the incident was "unfortunate" and that they had amicably settled their dispute.

The cricketer was arrested last Friday, a day after the alleged incident.

Pomersbach, who plays for Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL), had insisted that he entered the room with Ms Hamid's consent.

He was released on bail, but the court had asked him not to leave India by the court.

'Unfortunate episode'

"The petitioners have reached a settlement... whereby... disputes between the parties have been amicably settled without any pressure, coercion or undue influence," the petition filed jointly by Ms Hamid, her fiance and the cricketer said, reports Press Trust of India.

"All petitioners are of young age and have a long life ahead of them. They don't want to blemish each other and wish to end this unfortunate episode of their lives respectively."

The trio said they had decided to settle out of court on the advice of friends and relatives.

On Thursday, Ms Hamid said she had also decided to drop legal proceedings against the Bangalore team director Siddharth Mallya for "casting aspersions on her character through tweets".

Last week, police said the 27-year-old Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) player was accused of groping Ms Hamid after a post-match party in the five-star Hotel Maurya.

When her fiance intervened, he was punched by Pomersbach, they said.

Correspondents say the hugely lucrative but scandal-plagued IPL, which is in its fifth year, has hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons this year. Some commentators have called it the "Indian Problem League".