Bollywood star Salman Khan, accused of killing a pavement dweller in a hit-and-run incident in Mumbai in 2002, has been given a five-year jail term by Judge DW Deshpande of the Bombay City Civil and Sessions Court. Khan was charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder and rash driving after his Toyota Land Cruiser ran into a group of people sleeping on the footpath outside the American Express bakery in Bandra in northwest Mumbai on September 28, 2002. Khan has been given bail for two days by the Bombay High Court, which means he will not be taken into custody immediately and has till May 8 to appeal against the verdict.
The Sessions Court rejected the arguments put forth by defence lawyer Shrikant Shivade, that the family driver, Ashok Singh, was the one behind the wheel that night. Shivade had claimed that Khan wasn’t drunk, and that the Mumbai Police had tampered with his blood samples to prove that they contained alcohol. However, Deshpande rejected the arguments, saying that Khan was drunk that night and had been driving the vehicle.
The packed proceedings, which were filled with drama due to overcrowding and a power cut, were attended by, among others, his brother Sohail, sisters Arpita and Alvira, his manager Reshma Shetty, and Congress leader Baba Siddiqui.
The verdict brings a temporary close to a long and knotty saga of allegations, counter-allegations and shifting witness statements. According to the Mumbai police chargesheet, an inebriated Khan had been driving his vehicle at high speed in the early hours of September 28, had lost control and had rammed into a group of people sleeping on the footpath outside the American Express Bakery, killing Nurulah Sharif and injuring four others. Mumbai Police constable Ravindra Patil, who had been deputed to protect Khan because the actor was being threatened by the underworld, made two separate statements that the actor had been behind the wheel and had been drinking.
Patil later recanted his statements and was sacked from the Mumbai Police. He died of tuberculosis in 2007.
Khan was arrested on September 28, 2002, and released the same day. He was charged under Section 304 (2) with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, a charge that was struck down by the Bombay High Court in 2003. This Bombay High Court order was set aside by the Supreme Court in 2003, paving the way for the case to being re-examined.
Several twists emerged when the case was re-opened at the Bombay City Civil and Session Court in 2013. The case diaries and the statements of 56 witnesses appear to have vanished over the 13 years since the incident. Singer Kamaal Khan, who was in the vehicle at the time of the incident, was dropped as a witness by the prosecution.
On March 27 this year, Khan made the sensational disclosure to the court that his family driver, Ashok Singh, was actually the one who was behind the wheel. Three days later, Ashok Singh backed Khan in court, saying that it hadn’t previously occurred to him to reveal this vital piece of information to the police. Khan’s defence team also argued that in the bar he visited before getting into the vehicle, the actor had been sipping on water, rather than alcohol. The actor's lawyers also claimed Nurulah Sharif did not die because the vehicle rammed into him, but because its bumper came loose and fell on him during the salvage operation.
It’s business as usual
The ruling is a personal blow not just for Khan and his family but also for the Hindi movie business. Khan has at least two potential blockbusters in the pipeline: Kabir Khan’s action thriller Bajrangi Bhaijaan, which is scheduled to open in mid-July on Eid, and Sooraj Barjatya’s family entertainer Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, which is scheduled to be released on November 11. He is also believed to be attached to the sequels to the popular 2005 comedy No Entry and his previous hits Kick and Dabangg.
Khan’s screen image has not been dented either by this hit-and-run nor the blackbuck poaching case from 1998, in which Khan and other movie stars such as Saif Ali Khan were accused of hunting two blackbucks in Rajasthan. If anything, the litigation reinforces public perception that Salman Khan is a misunderstood and unfortunate soul who lives life by his instincts and pays the price for it.
Khan’s ability to ensure a return on investment has endured despite professional and personal ups and downs. He has featured in several indifferently received movies in the 200s, but became a genre unto himself with the action comedy Wanted in 2009. Khan has played a version of himself–an honest, fearless, witty, cool and super-fit savior of humanity –in nearly every film since Wanted, whether it is Dabangg (2010), Bodyguard (2011), Ek Tha Tiger (2012) or Kick (2014). He has also cultivated a public image of being socially responsible through his non-profit organisation Being Human.
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The Sessions Court rejected the arguments put forth by defence lawyer Shrikant Shivade, that the family driver, Ashok Singh, was the one behind the wheel that night. Shivade had claimed that Khan wasn’t drunk, and that the Mumbai Police had tampered with his blood samples to prove that they contained alcohol. However, Deshpande rejected the arguments, saying that Khan was drunk that night and had been driving the vehicle.
The packed proceedings, which were filled with drama due to overcrowding and a power cut, were attended by, among others, his brother Sohail, sisters Arpita and Alvira, his manager Reshma Shetty, and Congress leader Baba Siddiqui.
The verdict brings a temporary close to a long and knotty saga of allegations, counter-allegations and shifting witness statements. According to the Mumbai police chargesheet, an inebriated Khan had been driving his vehicle at high speed in the early hours of September 28, had lost control and had rammed into a group of people sleeping on the footpath outside the American Express Bakery, killing Nurulah Sharif and injuring four others. Mumbai Police constable Ravindra Patil, who had been deputed to protect Khan because the actor was being threatened by the underworld, made two separate statements that the actor had been behind the wheel and had been drinking.
Patil later recanted his statements and was sacked from the Mumbai Police. He died of tuberculosis in 2007.
Khan was arrested on September 28, 2002, and released the same day. He was charged under Section 304 (2) with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, a charge that was struck down by the Bombay High Court in 2003. This Bombay High Court order was set aside by the Supreme Court in 2003, paving the way for the case to being re-examined.
Several twists emerged when the case was re-opened at the Bombay City Civil and Session Court in 2013. The case diaries and the statements of 56 witnesses appear to have vanished over the 13 years since the incident. Singer Kamaal Khan, who was in the vehicle at the time of the incident, was dropped as a witness by the prosecution.
On March 27 this year, Khan made the sensational disclosure to the court that his family driver, Ashok Singh, was actually the one who was behind the wheel. Three days later, Ashok Singh backed Khan in court, saying that it hadn’t previously occurred to him to reveal this vital piece of information to the police. Khan’s defence team also argued that in the bar he visited before getting into the vehicle, the actor had been sipping on water, rather than alcohol. The actor's lawyers also claimed Nurulah Sharif did not die because the vehicle rammed into him, but because its bumper came loose and fell on him during the salvage operation.
It’s business as usual
The ruling is a personal blow not just for Khan and his family but also for the Hindi movie business. Khan has at least two potential blockbusters in the pipeline: Kabir Khan’s action thriller Bajrangi Bhaijaan, which is scheduled to open in mid-July on Eid, and Sooraj Barjatya’s family entertainer Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, which is scheduled to be released on November 11. He is also believed to be attached to the sequels to the popular 2005 comedy No Entry and his previous hits Kick and Dabangg.
Khan’s screen image has not been dented either by this hit-and-run nor the blackbuck poaching case from 1998, in which Khan and other movie stars such as Saif Ali Khan were accused of hunting two blackbucks in Rajasthan. If anything, the litigation reinforces public perception that Salman Khan is a misunderstood and unfortunate soul who lives life by his instincts and pays the price for it.
Khan’s ability to ensure a return on investment has endured despite professional and personal ups and downs. He has featured in several indifferently received movies in the 200s, but became a genre unto himself with the action comedy Wanted in 2009. Khan has played a version of himself–an honest, fearless, witty, cool and super-fit savior of humanity –in nearly every film since Wanted, whether it is Dabangg (2010), Bodyguard (2011), Ek Tha Tiger (2012) or Kick (2014). He has also cultivated a public image of being socially responsible through his non-profit organisation Being Human.