Actor Salman Khan arrived at a Mumbai court today, where two investigating officers will submit their statements in the ongoing trial of the hit-and-run case dating from 2002.
On March 7, the court directed the next hearing be scheduled for today and directed the actor be present. The last time he was present in court was December 3 last year.
It also allowed the prosecution to rely on the statement of Ravindra Patil, an eye-witness who was actor Salman Khan’s bodyguard and who died on October 3, 2007. In his statement, recorded when the case was being tried earlier, Mr Patil had said that he was sitting beside Mr Khan (when the accident had happened) and had warned him not to drive rashly but was ignored by the actor. Mr Patil, who lodged the complaint after the hit-and-run, had also said that the actor was under the influence of alcohol at the time.
One person was killed and four others were injured when a car, allegedly driven by the actor, rammed into a bakery in suburban Bandra in Mumbai on September 28, 2002.
For years, his lawyers have argued that Mr Khan was not driving the car. The prosecution alleges that he was, and have called at least two witnesses in the ongoing trial to prove that the actor was at the wheel.
A hotel parking attendant told the court that he had seen Mr Khan sit in the driver’s seat but had not seen him drive off and another witness testified last May, claiming that the actor had exited the car from the right side.
Mr Khan is being tried for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. If convicted, he could spend upto 10 years in prison.
