A sessions court in Mumbai on Wednesday sentenced Salman Khan to 5 years in prison for culpable homicide for the death of a man in the 2002 hit-and-run case.
Justice D.W. Deshpande held the Bollywood actor guilty of all counts in the 13-year-old case, rejecting Salman Khan's claim that his driver Ashok Singh was at the wheel when the accident took place.
Justice Deshpande said: “You were driving the car,” adding Salman was under the influence of alcohol and behind the wheels without a licence.
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The court relied upon judgements in Alistair Pereira and Sanjeev Nanda BMW case of Delhi while convicting Salman.
As the court delivered the verdict, Salman had tears in his eyes and stood silently in the dock.
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Nurullah Mehboob Sharif was killed and four others were injured after Khan’s Toyota Land Cruiser ran up the stairs of American Express Laundry on Hill Road at Bandra in the intervening night of September 27 and 28, 2002. Khan was arrested and freed the same day after a medical check-up. He was rearrested in October 2002, but got bail from the sessions court.
The trial began in October 2006 at the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court at Bandra. In 2012, the magistrate ruled in favour of an enhanced charge under Section 304 II of the IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and transferred the case to the Mumbai sessions court for a fresh trial. In 2013, the sessions court framed charges under the stringent Section. Earlier, the actor had faced the charge of causing death by negligence under Section 304-A of the IPC.
Prayers at home
At Salman’s home in Galaxy Apartment in suburban Bandra, his family members — mother Salma, brothers Arbaaz and Sohail Khan, sisters Alvira and Arpita have been offering prayers since last night.
“We are all eagerly waiting for the verdict and we hope all will go well,” Salman’s father and noted scriptwriter Salim Khan said.
The actor’s mother has been visiting temples since a few days, family sources said. Salman returned from Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday where he had been shooting for his home production Bajrangi Bhaijaan, which is due to release in July.
The actor arrived in the evening and spent time with his family at home, the sources added. A strong posse of policemen has been deployed at the sessions court.
Watch video: SRK and Arpita visit Salman before his verdict
Salman Khan convicted in hit-and-run case
Justice D.W. Deshpande held the Bollywood actor guilty of all counts rejecting his claim that his driver Ashok Singh was at the wheel when the accident took place. > Read more
- Other Controversies
- › Blackbuck case: He was accused of poaching two Blackbucks in 1998 near Jodhpur during the shooting of 'Hum Saath Saath Hain'. He was sentenced to one year prison.
- › Comments about 26/11 attacks: “It was the elite that was targeted this time. So they panicked. Then they got up and spoke about it. My question is why not before? Attacks have happened in trains and small towns too, but no one talked about it so much,” Salman said in 2010. He claimed that Pakistan cannot be held responsible. He later apologised.
- › Aishwarya Rai in the picture: After their presence in ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’, the couple’s relationship was in the eye of the storm. After they broke up in 2002, Aishwarya alleged that the actor harassed her, as he was unable to come to terms with the ending of their relationship. A case was also registered by Aishwarya’s parents.
- › Brawl with SRK: In 2008, the two actors allegedly got into a fistfight during a party. The relationship between the two stars has never been the same since then. However, the two actors got back together on a good foot in an Iftar party and SRK attended Salman’s sister’s wedding. SRK visited Salman hours before the verdict on hit-and-run case.
- › Vivek Oberoi’s allegations: The actor accused Salman of "threatening to kill him, abusing and indulging in character assassination." It was rumoured that Vivek Oberoi and Aishwarya Rai were in a relationship.