Mumbai:Â A sessions court on Tuesday rejected the plea of the prosecution in the 2002 hit-and-run case seeking a direction to actor Salman Khan to produce his driving licence to prove the charge that he was driving car at the time of mishap without valid papers.Â
The prosecution had earlier claimed that Salman Khan did not have valid papers at the time his car ran over a pedestrian in 2002 killing one on the spot.
He (Khan) obtained a driving licence only in 2004, as per the record available with Regional Transport Office, said the prosecution.Â
The actor has denied that he was driving the car at the time. He has also disputed the RTO record. His lawyer, Srikant Shivade, opposed the prosecution’s application, saying it was not maintainable.Â
The case, dragging on for over a decade, took a twist when a city Magistrate, after examining 17 witnesses, held that the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder was made out against the 49-year-old actor, and referred the case to the sessions court.Â
Incidentally, a Jodhpur court will on Tuesday pronounce verdict in the 1998 black buck poaching case.
Salman and a few other Bollywood stars were accused of poaching blackbucks on the midnight of Oct 1-2, 1998 during the shooting of Hindi movie ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’. Two blackbucks, a protected animal under the Wildlife Protection Act, were killed on the outskirts of Kankani village near Jodhpur.
The star was also accused of carrying and using illegal arms. He is also alleged to have been carrying arms with expired license. A police complaint was filed against Salman Khan on charges of being involved in hunting of the protected blackbucks.