The ongoing re-trial of Bollywood actor Salman Khan in the 2002 hit-and-run case on Thursday suffered a major setback, as the prosecution informed the sessions court that apart from several of original statements, even the case diaries in the case had gone missing.
Nearly a month after it told the trial court that as many as 56 out of the total 63 original statements, including original statements of some witnesses, were not traceable, the prosecution dropped another bombshell when it told the sessions court that even the case diaries had disappeared in the case.
At the previous hearing held on July 25, the Investigating Officer in the case had told the court that only seven out of 63 original statements were available. However, he had told the court that “true copies” of the missing original documents were available on record. like in the previous hearing, Salman’s lawyer Srikant Shivade contended that the prosecution had to produce original documents before the court, for the trial to go on. However, prosecution argued that in accordance with the established practice in Mumbai courts the trial could go on with the true copies.
Sessions judge DW Deshpande directed the police to locate the documents by September 12.
He also asked the police to inform the court about their line of action at the next hearing. The Judge said that he would verify the documents that the prosecution and defence had in their possession, at the next hearing and take a call on whether it was appropriate to produced with the trial.
The police had earlier told the court that the original papers were kept in a magistrate's court where the trial was held since 2001. However, most of the original statements of the witnesses and case diaries could not be traced after the trial was shifted to the sessions court.