Actor Salman Khan acquitted of poaching charges

Our Correspondent

Jodhpur, July 25

The Rajasthan High Court on Monday acquitted Bollywood actor Salman Khan of charges of having been involved in two separate poaching incidents in 1998.  

A bench of Justice Nirmal Jeet Kaur said there was insufficient evidence against Khan.  The court held that the pellets recovered from the chinkaras were not fired from Khan's licensed gun.

Read: Salman Khan's acquittal sets Twitter abuzz 

The verdict overturns a lower court's conviction of the actor in two separate cases of poaching — one involving two chinkaras in Bhawad on September 26-27, 1998 and the other involving another one in Mathania, Ghoda Farm, on September 28-29, 1998.

Read: Who killed the black buck: Co-star on Salman’s acquittal

Besides this, the court rejected three appeals by the state government.

The prosecution said they would decide later whether to appeal the ruling.

Khan was booked for two separate cases under section 51 of Wildlife Protection Act.

The lower court had sentenced the actor to one year in one case on February 17, 2006, and for five years for the second case on April 10, 2006.
The actor is among the seven people accused of having been involved in the two cases of poaching in 1998 while he was shooting for Rajshri Productions 1999 movie ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’.

The driver of the jeep that was suspected to have been used by Khan and his co- stars on their alleged hunting trip has been missing since, weakening the prosecution's case against the movie star. With inputs from PTI