In what came as some relief to Salman Khan, a witness told a trial court on Tuesday the Bollywood actor did not appear to be under the influence of alcohol minutes after his car drove over five people sleeping on the pavement, killing one of them and injuring four others on September 28, 2002.
In his deposition before the trial court, Francis Fernandes (63), a neighbour of Salman, who lives near the mishap site and has known the actor from his childhood, said he had rushed to the accident spot, after hearing shouts of commotion from a mob that had gathered near his residence.
“When I went near Salman, he did not appear to be drunk and he did not smell alcohol. He looked normal and walked straight,” Fernandes said during the course of cross-examination conducted by defence lawyer Shrikant Shivade.
48-year-old Salman, dressed in a navy blue shirt and jeans, appeared relieved as he heard Fernandes’ testimony from the dock, where he was standing.
Fernandes’ deposition before sessions judge DW Deshpande should be seen in the context of the Prosecution’s contention that Salman was in a drunken state in the small hours of September 28, 2002, when he drove his land Cruiser recklessly and rammed against the American Express Bakery residence at Bandra in north-west Mumbai, killing one and injuring four others, who were asleep on the pavement in front of the bakery.
Earlier, three witnesses — who were among the four persons injured in the mishap — had told the court that they had seen Salman alighting from the car involved in the incident. They had told the court that the actor was so drunk that he fell down initially, then got up and was held by a group of onlookers that had been shouting nichey utro (get down) even before he alighted from the vehicle.
Another witness — a bar waiter — had told the court that he had served cocktails, Bacardi (White Rum) and some snacks to a group of friends that Salman had brought along with him to ‘Zen Bar’ in JW Marriot Hotel on the intervening night of September 27-28, 2002, but could not remember if the actor had indeed consumed drinks.
“Hearing shouts of commotion from a mob gathered near my residence, I rushed to the mishap site where people with sticks and stones had surrounded Salman. I went near Salman. On seeing me, he said “Commander mujhe bacha lijiye(Commander save me from the people),” Fernandes said, responding to a query from Public Prosecutor Jagannath Kenjralkar.
Fernandes said he advised Salman to head home in his (the witness’) car. “My wife asked Salman to sit in our car and head home. Salman then left for our home in our car,” the witness said.
Responding to question posed by the public prosecutor, Fernandes said, “The crowd had become restive and there was every likelihood that it would turn violent any time. Seeing those in crowd armed with sticks and stones, I felt that Salman’s life was in danger. Police, however, had not arrived by that time. It was only after 10 to 15 minutes that the police arrived on the scene,” adding that it was on his advice that the actor left the mishap site in his (witness’) car.
With Fernandes’ deposition, the total number of witnesses who have so far deposed in the re-trial of Salman has gone up to seven.
Salman, against whom fresh charges were framed in the court of Judge UB Hejib on July 24 last year, is being tried 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.
The charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder attracts a 10-year sentence. The actor had earlier been tried by a magistrate for a lesser offence of causing death by negligence, which entailed an imprisonment of two years.
Meanwhile, the police filed an application on Tuesday seeking a direction to investigate into allegations of threat given on telephone to a witness by a lawyer.
On its part, the court declined to pass any order on the issue since it had asked the police to probe the matter.
The court had earlier directed the police to investigate witness Muslim Shaikh’s allegation that he had been threatened by lawyer Mukesh Pande on May 4 on his cellphone to renege from his earlier version in lieu of a Rs5 lakh offer.
However, the lawyer, in a statement to police, denied Shaikh’s allegation and produced cell phone records to show that he had not made any such call to the witness on that day. Advocate Pande is the same lawyer who had helped Shaikh
The re-trial will resume on June 23.