More than twelve-and-a-half years after he allegedly rammed his car onto the pavements of a road near his Bandra residence killing one person and injuring four others, Bollywood actor Salman Khan awaits a crucial verdict in the much-discussed hit-and-run case, on Wednesday. If convicted, 49-year-old Salman will face a maximum punishment of 10 years' imprisonment in the hit-and-run case, in which he was prosecuted among other charges for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
Ringing the curtain down on the long-drawn hit-and-run trial — held in two phases — that saw several twists and turns, Additional Sessions Judge DW Deshpande will deliver his verdict in the case, amidst tight security arrangements made in and around the court in south Mumbai. The Prosecution’s case is that Salman — allegedly in a drunken state — had on intervening the night of September 27-28, 2002, rammed his Toyota land Cruiser lexus into the American Express Bakery and laundry at Bandra (west) killing one person and injuring four others.
During the course of the actor’s re-trial in the 2002, the Prosecution examined 27 witnesses, while the defence examined only one witness – the actor’s driver Ashok Singh. In addition, the trial court recorded accused actor’s statement under Section 313 of the Cr PC. In his statement before the court, Salman claimed that it was not he but his driver Ashok Singh who was behind the wheels at the time of mishap, a claim that found corroboration in the deposition made subsequently by Singh in his capacity as the defence witness.
Salman faced the re-trial in the hit-and-run case before the city Sessions court for an aggravated charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Section 304 (ii) of IPC) invoked against him midway through the earlier trial on December 5, 2013. Fresh charges were framed against the actor in the court of judge UB Hejib on July 24 last year.
While concluding his final arguments in the case on April 9, Special Public Prosecutor Pradeep Gharat had sought conviction of the actor for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, on the ground that he was under the influence of alcohol, driving rashly, that too without a licence, that he had prior knowledge of the area and that knew full well any error on his part would harm others.
Given that Ravindra Patil was the actor’s police guard, eyewitness and complainant in the case, the evidence given by him holds a key to the verdict in the case. While concluding his final arguments in the much-discussed case, Salman’s lawyer Shrikant Shivade had once again urged the court not to accept the evidence Ravindra Patil, the actor’s police bodyguard on the ground that the eyewitness and complainant in the case (Patil) was not available for cross-examination.
Patil had died of acute bilateral tuberculosis on October 3, 2007, midway through the original trial. During the original trial, Patil had deposed before a Magistrate, saying that that he had warned Salman not to drive rashly or else he would meet with an accident but the actor did not heed to his advice. Buttressing the stand taken by Salman Khan in his defence in the much-discussed hit-and-run case, his driver Ashok Singh had March 30 told the trial court on March 30 that it was he and not the actor who was driving the car when it met with an accident on the night of September 28, 2002.
Three days after Salman had given a new twist to the ongoing re-trial in the hit-and-run case by testifying that he was neither drunk nor was he behind the wheels at the time of mishap, his driver Ashok Singh went by the actor’s version and said it was he who was negotiating the car when he lost control after a tyre burst, and the vehicle climbed up the stairs of a bakery
Meanwhile, ahead of delivering his verdict in the 2002 hit-and-run case, Judge Deshpande will decide on a perjury plea seeking action against the police for its failure to examine eyewitness Kamal Khan, a singer-friend who was sitting in the car with the actor at the time of mishap. In his perjury application, social activist Santosh Daundkar has sought action against the police for not examining the actor’s Kamal Khan, who was in the car along with the actor and his police bodyguard Ravindra Patil at the time of mishap on the intervening night of September 27-28, 2002.
The Prosecution’s version is that three persons were in the car – Salman himself, who was driving, Kamal Khan, who was sitting in the rear seat and police constable Ravindra Patil, the bodyguard attached to the actor, who was sitting on the left seat at the front. However, the defence lawyer’;s version is there were four persons in the car. While Salman was sitting on the front left seat, Patil and Kamaal Khan occupied the left and right seats at the rear, respectively and it was the actor’s driver Ashok Singh, who was behind the wheels.