Salman Khan Hit And Run Case
Salman
Khan is in trouble again. The re-trial for the hit-and-run case
of 2002 started on Monday in the Mumbai sessions court. The hearing
involved partial deposition of a witness in a Mumbai court.
The trial began with a number of witnesses deposing before the court. However, the actor himself was missing from all the action. The court has asked Salman to remain present on May 6 when the eyewitnesses, who were injured in the accident would be examined by the prosecution.
One of the first witnesses to depose in the court, Samba Gowda, said he had drawn panchnama of the articles seized by police on the day of the incident on September 28, 2002. But the deposition had to be delayed because material evidence 'could not be traced' and there was no identification of the evidence in the panchnama prepared by the police.
Samba
Gowda told prosecutor Jagannath Kenjalkar that it was a big car which
rammed into a laundry and its bumper hit the shutter of the shop. He
said he saw glass pieces, number plate of the car and bumper parts
lying on the spot when he reached the spot along with the police.
These articles were later seized by police.
"I
can identify the articles collected by police from the place of
accident," said Gowda, who belong to Karnataka.
Two
more witnesses were discharged as they had admitted the panchnamas
drawn by them. A list of total 64 witnesses had been submitted by the
prosecution, but not all were examined.
Sessions
Judge D W Deshpande had asked prosecution to produce eyewitnesses and
the first witness who was injured in the accident on March 26, but
the witnesses failed to turn up making this the second occasion when
the fresh trial did not begin in this case. The trial was then
postponed to April 28.
Salman
was earlier being tried for the lesser offence of causing death by
negligence, which carries a punishment of upto two years in jail. But
the present charge imposed on him of culpable homicide not amounting
to murder carries a maximum jail sentence of 10 years.
The
Bollywood superstar is alleged to have ran over his Toyota Land
Cruiser on people sleeping on a footpath outside a bakery in suburban
Bandra on September 28, 2002, killing one and injuring four others.
The case has gone from court to court with arguments centred around
whether Salman was driving the car that day or not. The Mumbai police
say they have enough evidence against him.
