Salman Khan gets 5 years in jail in the ’hit-and-run’ case

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, May 06, 2015: Actor Salman Khan was on Wednesday pronounced guilty in 2002 hit-and-run case, bringing an end to a 13-year-old trial against him. The actor has been sentenced to five years in jail.

 

While pronouncing the verdict, the Mumbai session court judge said Khan was driving the car without a licence and he was under the influence of alcohol. The court even made a reference to Alistair Pereira case.

"You were driving the car, without a licence and you were under the influence of alcohol," the judge told Salman, who was present in the court.

Denying the charges, the 49-year-old actor said he wasn’t driving the car. He will now be taken straight to Arthur Road jail from the court. The Mumbai Police has taken the custody of the actor.

Soon after the judgement, the actor’s lawyers even claimed that Khan is suffering from heart ailment.Salman Khan’s medical certificate

 

Khan, who was facing charges of culpable homicide, has now been charged with killing one person and injuring four others by ramming his SUV into a bakery shop in suburban Bandra, in his white Land Cruiser.

A tight security blanket was thrown around the court when sessions judge DW Deshpande pronounced the judgement on Tuesday. Only the lawyers, media and the court staff were allowed to be present.

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Ahead of the verdict, Salman’s sister Arpita, both his brothers Arbaaz and Sohail Khan as well as Congress leader Baba Siddiqui met the 49-year-old actor.

"We are all eagerly waiting for the verdict and we hope all will go well," Salman’s father and noted scriptwriter Salim Khan had said.

A Bandra Metropolitan Magistrate, who conducted the trial under the lesser charge of rash and negligent driving, which carries a maximum punishment of two years, had in 2012 slapped the more serious offence of culpable homicide and committed the matter to the sessions court.

While the prosecution has insisted that a drunk Khan was driving the Toyota Land Cruiser that ran over the victims sleeping on the pavement outside the bakery in suburban Bandra, the actor has claimed it was his driver Ashok Singh who was behind the wheel. Khan’s driver, Ashok Singh, has endorsed the defence’s claim.

The defence also argued that police had not obtained any finger prints from the steering wheel to find out who was driving the vehicle.

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Prosecutor Pradeep Gharat has alleged that Khan was driving the vehicle after consuming alcohol at a bar, a charge denied by the actor, who said he had just a glass of water.

Nurullah Mehboob Sharif was killed in the accident in which Kalim Mohammed Pathan, Munna Malai Khan, Abdullah Rauf Shaikh and Muslim Shaikh had been injured.

The defence counsel also claimed that the accident was caused after the driver lost control due to tyre burst. He also said the road was under repair and stones lay scattered all over the place.