Seeking to establish conclusively Salman Khan’s role in the 2002 hit-and-run case, the prosecution on Tuesday told the trial court that the Bollywood actor had run away from the scene of the mishap fearing wrath of the enraged mob, rather than taking the injured pavement dwellers to the hospital.
Continuing his final arguments in the re-trial in the September 28, 2002 hit-and-run case on third day, Special Public Prosecutor Pradeep Gharat said: “If the actor was driving the car on that night, why did he run away from the scene without helping the victimsIJ. The conduct of the accused needs to be analysed.. Such an analysis proves the guilt of the accused”.
In his effort to prove the Prosecution’s stand that the actor ---allegedly in a drunken state --- had rammed his Toyota land Cruiser lexus into the American Express Bakery and laundry at Bandra (west) killing a pavement dweller and injuring four others, Gharat cited the testimonies of two witnesses – the actor’s childhood friend and neighbour Francis Fernandes and local resident Ramaashray Pandey. “Going by the statements of these two witnesses it is clear that the accused had run away from the spot,” he said,
Quoting from the deposition of Fernandes whom the actor called as “Commander”, the Prosecutor said that the actor’s childhood friend (Fernandes) and his wife Maria came out of their house after hearing the noise. “Seeing Fernandes, the actor called out RsCommander, save me”. Since he (Fernandes) is a friend of Salman, he saved the accused actor from the wrath of the public. Fernandez asked the actor to leave the spot as he feared the mob, armed with rods and stones, might get violent and assault him,” he said.
Gharat also quoted Fernandes as having told the court that among the people who gathered around the site of mishap were two persons were armed with rods and others with stones.
“Had the defence witness (Ashok Singh) been there at the spot, it would have been a different scenario. Would the mob not have attacked Singh instead of the actorIJ If the mob chose to target the actor, it was because he was behind the wheels. Man may lie, but circumstances do not,”the Prosecutor said,
“In fact, Fernandes managed to stop a car and sent off three persons – Salman, singer-friend Kamaal Khan and bodyguard Ravindra Patil in that vehicle. This clearly shows that the actor and two others did not help the victims trapped under the car involved in the mishap, but ran away from the scene. That many persons in the mob gathered around the mishap site went surging at the actor goes to prove that he ( Salman) was behind the wheels,” the Prosecutor said, as he urged the court to reject the evidence of the actor’s driver Ashok Singh who had earlier told the court that it was he and not Salman who was driving the car at the time of mishap.
Alluding to Pandey’s testimony, the Prosecutor said that the witness had seen the actor getting down from the right side of the car. “He had also brought this to light that Salman and two others (Kamaal Khan and Patil) left in a car,” Gharat said.
The Prosecutor told the court that one of its own witnesses — an officer with the RTO — had “intentionally tried to sabotage the case to help the defence”.