Jodhpur/Mumbai, August 24
Yet another Bollywood star Salman Khan today faced arrest after a Jodhpur court dismissed his appeal against a five-year jail term given to him for poaching an endangered chinkara.

After day-long suspense over his whereabouts, the 41-year-old star appeared on the balcony of his home in the Mumbai suburb of Bandra to wave to fans waiting outside while his lawyer announced he would surrender to the authorities in Jodhpur on Monday.

District and Sessions Judge K R Singhvi upheld a lower court’s judgement of April 2006 sentencing Salman to prison in the 1998 poaching case.

The court of the chief judicial magistrate, which had convicted Salman last year, issued the non-bailable warrant against him in the afternoon and sent it to police for execution.

The actor evaded immediate arrest as he did not appear in the sessions court, with his lawyer saying there was no directive for his appearance.

Salman’s contemporary Sanjay Dutt was last month given a six-year jail term for illegal possession of weapons in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case. He is currently free on interim bail granted by the Supreme Court.

In his ruling against Salman, Judge Singhvi described the grounds used by the actor for his appeal against his conviction as “baseless”.

Salman’s sister Alvira was present in the court as the judge forfeited his bail bond and directed him to surrender.

The judge also rejected an application filed by Salman’s counsel for giving him time to surrender.

The police in Jodhpur said it would send out teams to arrest Salman. “We are prepared to send our teams to arrest Salman. As soon as we get the NBW issued by the court, teams will move out (to arrest him),” Additional Superintendent of Police Sawai Singh Godara said.

Salman’s lawyer Deepesh Mehta said a revision petition would be filed in the Rajasthan High Court. An application would also be filed in the High Court seeking the suspension of his sentence and the hearing of his case on priority.

“The (court’s) order is 76 pages long. We will read it and file a revision application in the Rajasthan High Court on Monday, following which Salman will travel with me to Jodhpur to surrender,” Mehta said.

The star was convicted for poaching a chinkara in 1998 during the shooting of the film “Hum Saath Saath Hain”. He was also given a one-year jail term in a separate poaching case in Jodhpur and has appealed against that sentence.

Though Salman is a resident of Mumbai, he will have to approach the Rajasthan High Court and not the Bombay High Court for relief, chief public prosecutor Satish Borulkar said.

In his judgement, Judge Singhvi said no court could avoid the circumstantial evidence available on record against Salman. Circumstantial evidence is important in this case as it constitutes a chain that “loudly says a crime was committed”, he said.

Salman’s counsel could not prove how the judgement against the actor was biased, the judge said.

Mahipal Vishnoi, a lawyer for the Vishnoi community that campaigns for the protection of endangered wildlife, said it would oppose any move by Salman to appeal in the high court. — PTI