In a significant deposition made before a sessions court in the ongoing re-trial in the 2002 hit-and-run case, a police officer – who registered an FIR against Salman Khan—said on Thursday that the actor was missing from both the mishap site and his nearby residence at Bandra, after the much-discussed incident.
Testifying before the court of Sessions Judge DW Deshpande, Rajendra Kadam, one of the investigating officers who had registered a case against the Bollywood actor for alleged rash and negligent driving, said, “When I reached the spot, I did not find the actor there. Nor did I find him at his nearby residence at Galaxy apartments where I went after visiting the incident site”.
The Prosecution’s case has been that Salman — allegedly in a drunken state — had driven his Toyota land Cruiser recklessly on September 28,2002, killing a pavement dweller and injuring four others, who were asleep on the same pavement. The actor himself surrendered before the police a few hours after the mishap.
Forty-nine-year-old Salman, dressed in blue jeans and blue shirt, was present in the court room, when Kadam deposed. The actor, sitting in the front row along with sister Alvira, was seen listening quietly to the evidence being given by the police officer. At times, the actor was seen exchanging notes with his lawyer Shrikant Shivade.
Acting on a request by defence lawyer Shivade, the Judge directed the Bandra police to produce the case diaries on Friday, for examination of entries made therein by the investigation officer concerned, on the first three days of the incident. Shivade told the court that he wanted to examine the entries in the station diary before he continued the cross-examination of the police officer concerned on Friday.
Public Prosecutor Pradeep Gharat said he had no objection whatsoever to produce the case diaries provided they were exhibited as evidence in the court. Elaborating on his evidence, Kadam informed the court that he was on night duty on the day of incident. After he received a telephone call about the accident, he rushed to the site on his motorbike, along with a police constable.
“On reaching there, I found people had gathered around the spot. They were pushing around the actor’s police bodyguard Ravindra Patil. After we pulled out Patil from the crowd, he told us as to what had happened. It was only then we came to know that the actor was involved in the incident,” Kadam told the court.
Kadam said that he registered an FIR against the actor on the basis of a complaint filed by constable Ravindra Patil, who was then Salman’s bodyguard. Patil told the police in his complaint that the actor was driving the car at the time of the accident and that he was under the influence of liquor at that time. Kadam's evidence is crucial given that the court had last week allowed the Prosecution to rely upon the actor's bodyguard and eye-witness in the case Ravindra Patil, who had died during the original trial. His statement had been recorded during the original trial.
Kadam further said that the injured persons were sent to a nearby hospital where their statements were recorded. “At the accident spot, I saw a white coloured car had rammed into American Express bakery shop after climbing three steps. The car’s number plate was lying on the spot,” he said.
Kadam recalled that he saw five persons “entangled and trapped beneath the car” when he reached the spot. “Of the five persons, one of them was dead, while four others were injured. Of the injured, two had sustained severe injuries. The injured were taken to Bhabha hospital where two of the victims who had sustained minor injuries were discharged after preliminary treatment,” he said.
Kadam said that inspection of the vehicle showed blood on the left front tyre of the car. “As the tyre was burst, there was blood on the wheel base too. I then seized the papers of the vehicle and its keys and labelled them,” the police officer told the court.
Kadam went on to identify the pieces of evidence produced before him in the court. They included blood-stained soil sample, pieces of fibre glass, white front bumper of the car involved in the accident. The police officer also identified the “spot panchnama” prepared by him.
later, during his cross-examination by the actor’s lawyer Shivade, Kadam said that he had reached the accident spot at 2.50 am and drew up a panchnama of the mishap between 3.05 am and 4.20 am.
Replying to a question, Kadam said that though the ignition key was in the car, he did not try to start the engine either at the spot or later at the police station. The car was taken to the police station with the help of a crane.
“I cannot say whether the bumper of the vehicle had come off while lifting the car with the help of crane,” Kadam told the defence lawyer during the cross-examination. The cross—examination will continue on Friday.
Salman is facing a re-trial in the hit-and-run case before the city sessions court for an aggravated charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder invoked against him midway through the earlier trial on December 5, 2013.
Salman, against whom fresh charges were framed in the court of judge U B 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.