The man who invaded the pitch during the Men's Cricket World Cup final between India and Australia on Sunday was sent to one-day remand till 5 pm on Tuesday by the court. The much-hyped final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad was a witness to the massive security breach, when the man who hailed from Australia, ran on the pitch and hugged Indian cricketer Virat Kohli. The man wore a striking outfit of a 'Stop Bombing Palestine' t-shirt, a mask with the Palestine flag colours and held the rainbow flag of the LGBT community.
'Investigation transferred to crime branch'
JCP Crime Neeraj Kumar Badgujar told ANI on Monday, "Yesterday, during the match, a person entered the stadium... It was found that his name is Van Johnson and he is a citizen of Australia. His mother is Indonesian and father is Chinese... Whatever he earns, he uses it to go to various matches and trespasses matches."
In 2020, Johnson invaded a rugby match, for which we he was fined more than USD 200, following which he was let go, Badgujar said. "In 2023 also he entered a women's match, and then he was fined USD 500 dollars... He entered the match yesterday to become famous... He entered the stadium through gate number 1 wearing a blue t shirt supporting the Indian team... then he just jumped above the 6.5-foot-high fencing covered with barbed wire. His hands were also injured... An FIR was registered... Now the investigation has been transferred to the crime branch... We got the remand for 1 day," the official added.
Security breach exposed
While the security breach was not shown during the live telecast of the India vs Australia final, a clip of the incident was widely circulated on social media. The incident was widely condemned, with social media users questioning the security at the stadium, where several high-profile personalities, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were present to watch the match.
The man was quickly detained by the security officials at the stadium and handed over to the Ahmedabad police. The pitch invader said he entered the ground to meet Virat Kohli and he is a supporter of Palestine.
