Abishek Porel #

Introduction #

Abishek Porel is an Indian professional cricketer who plays as a wicketkeeper-batter for Bengal in Indian domestic cricket and for the Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League. In August 2026, the 23-year-old was arrested by West Bengal police in a sexual assault case and charged with rape, sexual assault and criminal intimidation after a complaint by a medical student. Taken into custody by the Hooghly police following a Calcutta High Court direction, he was produced before a court and remanded to police custody, and was subsequently denied bail and sent to 14 days of judicial custody by the Chinsurah District Court. Porel has refuted all the allegations; he has not been tried, and the case against him remains unadjudicated.

Background Information #

Porel was born on October 17, 2002, in Chandannagar, West Bengal, and bats left-handed; he is a cousin of fellow Bengal cricketer Ishan Porel. He has represented Bengal in domestic cricket since 2022 and the Delhi Capitals in the IPL since 2023. His IPL break came in unusual circumstances: Delhi Capitals brought him in during the 2023 season as a replacement for the injured Rishabh Pant, and he made his debut against the Gujarat Titans on April 4, 2023, scoring 20 runs off 11 balls. His role expanded over the following seasons — he played all 14 league games in the 2024 IPL, scoring 327 runs at an average of 32.70 with two fifties, and was retained by the Capitals as an uncapped player for 4 crore rupees ahead of the 2025 season, in which he made 301 runs in 13 games. At the time of his arrest, Cricbuzz reported that he had played 32 first-class and 35 IPL games.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

Allegations. The claims in this section are allegations contained in a police first-information report and court filings; they are attributed, not established facts. Porel has been charged and remanded in custody, but he has not been tried and there has been no adjudication of guilt on any charge. He refutes all the allegations and is presumed innocent.

The case stems from a complaint lodged on June 23, 2026 at the Mogra Police Station in West Bengal’s Hooghly district by a Karnataka-based medical student. According to the complaint, the two had been in a relationship for three years and Porel had reneged on his promise to marry her; Cricbuzz reported that she accused him of exploiting her sexually on the false promise of marriage. The FIR was registered under numerous sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita — 64(1), 66, 69, 74, 75(2), 79, 115(2), 117(2), 124(1), 127(2), 109, 308(2), 351(2), 351(3), 316(2), 318(3), 61(2) and 3(5) — and under sections 66E and 72 of the Information Technology Act; Sportstar reported that the complaint included charges of murder threat, forceful confinement, abuse and cheating, besides rape.

The police action followed court involvement: an anticipatory bail application by Porel had earlier been rejected, and the Calcutta High Court directed his arrest — Cricbuzz reported the order as July 20, while Sportstar described a July 21 direction from Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya “to take him in custody immediately and also to seize his electronic devices.” Porel was arrested on the Monday night from Emami City, and police seized his mobile phone to prevent circulation of photographs of the complainant.

Public Reaction and Consequences #

Allegations. The custody orders described here are court and police records, not findings of guilt. The underlying charges are contested, untried allegations, and Porel refutes them.

After his arrest, Porel was produced before a court on Tuesday, August 11, and remanded to three days of police custody. Hooghly (Rural) Superintendent of Police Kunwar Bhushan Singh, asked about the case, told Sportstar: “Most of the charges against him (Porel) are non-bailable and sensitive”; he did not immediately respond to calls and messages from Cricbuzz. When the three-day police custody ended, Porel was produced again before the Chinsurah District Court, which on Friday, August 14 denied him bail and sent the 23-year-old into judicial custody for 14 days. The arrest of a current IPL wicketkeeper-batter on rape charges drew wide coverage in the Indian cricket press, with Sportstar’s own related-story listing pairing the case with a follow-up reporting that he had been “arrested on alleged rape, criminal intimidation charges”.

Current Status #

As of the most recent reporting available, Porel remained in 14 days of judicial custody ordered by the Chinsurah District Court on August 14, 2026, following the expiry of his initial police custody. Bail has been refused at both the anticipatory stage and by the district court, and the charges — most of which the district police superintendent described as non-bailable — remain pending. Porel has refuted all the allegations through the reporting on record. No trial has begun, no verdict has been reached, and he is presumed innocent of all charges.

Impact on Their Career/Life #

The arrest and custody interrupted a career on an upward IPL trajectory. Porel had grown from an injury-replacement debutant in 2023 into a retained Delhi Capitals regular, with 327 runs in the 2024 season and a 4-crore retention ahead of 2025, alongside 32 first-class appearances for Bengal. His custodial status leaves him unavailable to either franchise or state side while the case proceeds, and the IT Act provisions in the FIR, tied to the seizure of his phone and the complainant’s photographs, add a digital-evidence dimension to the proceedings. Because he has been charged but not tried, the ultimate effect on his cricket career remains undetermined: bail, trial and any verdict are still ahead of him, and the record to date consists of an FIR, two custody orders and his own blanket denial of the allegations.