A city sessions court will fix the time-frame and schedule for a fresh trial of Bollywood actor Salman Khan in the much-discussed 2002 hit-and-run case on February 25, after hearing the prosecution and defence lawyers on the final list of documents and witnesses in the case. Ahead of fixing the time-frame for the fresh trial of the Bollywood actor in the hit-and-run case, Sessions judge DW Deshpande on Wednesday directed the prosecution in the case to submit a final list of documents and witnesses by February 25.
On his part, Salman’s lawyer Srikant Shivade told the court that he would file a response on the admissibility of the documents on February 25.The prosecution had earlier informed the court that it intended to examine 64 witnesses during the fresh trial.
On December 5 last year, the Sessions court had ordered a fresh trial in the 2002 hit-and-run case, giving an opportunity to the actor to re-examine the witnesses. in the context of an aggravated charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder invoked against him midway through the earlier trial.
Accepting the actor’s plea that the evidence adduced earlier before a magistrate be discarded as he was now facing a more serious charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, Judge Deshpande had ruled that the trial would be held de novo (fresh) and directed the Prosecution to produce a list of witnesses and documents to be adduced by it as evidence.
Holding that the evidence adduced before the Magistrate would not be considered and that all witnesses who had appeared earlier would both be examined and cross-examined afresh in the de-novo trial, the judge adjourned the matter to December 23 to enable the Prosecution to produce a list of witnesses and documents.
In the September 28, 2002 hit-and-run incident, Salman – allegedly in a drunken state --- drove his land Cruiser recklessly near his Bandra residence, killing a pavement dweller and injuring four others, who were asleep on the same pavement.
Forty-eight-year-old Salman, against whom fresh charges were framed in the court of Judge U B Hejib on July 24 last year, will now stand a fresh trial under section 304 (II) of Indian Penal code – a more severe charge than the one of causing death by negligence (section 304-A of IPC) that he was tried for earlier –and other charges, including the ones framed against him under section 279 of IPC (rash driving) and the relevant provisions of Motor Vehicles Act and Bombay Prohibition Act.
In the earlier trial held in a city magistrate’s court, Salman had been tried for causing death by negligence under 304 (I) of IPC and for other offences including rash driving, causing hurt, causing grievous injury by an act endangering life or personal safety of others) and driving in a drunken state.
Midway through the trial of the actor under section 304-A of IPC (causing death by negligence), the Bandra Metropolitan Magistrate had on January 31, 2013 allowed the Prosecution to revive the charge of “culpable homicide not amounting to murder” for allegedly killing a pavement dweller and injuring four others in the hit-and-run case. Through his January 31 order, the Bandra Magistrate committed the case to the city sessions court for a fresh trial.
The original trial had begun in the Magistrate’s court in 2006. During the trial, the Prosecution had in all examined 17 witnesses. However two witnesses, Ravindra Patil, the actor’s former police body guard, and Ramasray Pandey, turned hostile, during the trial. In fact, Patil died of acute bilateral tuberculosis, at a city civic TB hospital on October 3, 2007.