Guilty of hit & run, Salman gets 5-yr jail; HC grants 2-day bail
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Tribune News Service
Mumbai, May 6
Hours after a Sessions Court found him guilty and sentenced to five years in prison in the 2002 hit-and-run case, Bollywood superstar Salman Khan swiftly moved the Bombay High Court which granted him two-day interim bail till May 8 to hear his appeal against the conviction.
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Judge DW Deshpande of the Sessions Court held Salman guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and other penal laws. The 49-year-old actor was accused of ramming his Land Cruiser into a roadside bakery shop in suburban Bandra in 2002, killing one person and injuring four others sleeping outside. He was also found guilty of driving without licence, for which he received two months jail term, and driving under influence of liquor. The actor had tears in his eyes when the Judge delivered the verdict.
Reading the judgement, Judge Deshpande upheld the prosecution’s charges that Salman was indeed driving the car under the influence of alcohol and that he did not possess a license for driving the vehicle. The court relied on earlier cases of drunken driving involving one Alistair Periera in Mumbai and the BMW case in Delhi.
“All charges against you have been proved,” Judge Deshpande told the actor.
“I hold that you were driving the vehicle. You were intoxicated. I also do not agree with your plea that the person who had died had received fatal injuries after a crane dropped the car on the persons underneath while removing it,” the judge added.
Shortly after the court found him guilty, a crestfallen Salman, clad in blue jeans and white shirt, said: “I was not driving the car... but I respect your decision and accept it. My lawyer will speak on my behalf.”
The actor was comforted by his sisters Arpita and Alvira, brothers Sohail and Arbaaz and father Salim Khan. Local politician Baba Siddique too was present in the court.
Shortly after the Sessions Court’s verdict, Salman’s defence team brought in senior counsel Harish Salve who moved the Bombay High Court for interim bail till the actor got a copy of the order.
