In corroboration of a deposition made before the trial court earlier by a waiter of his bar, a manager of “Rain Bar” at Juhu in north-west Mumbai on Monday confirmed that Salman Khan had come to his restaurant some time before his car was involved in a mishap on the night of September 28, 2002, but he was not sure if the actor had consumed liquor.
In his testimony before the court of Sessions Judge DW Deshpande, who is holding a re-trial into the much-discussed 2002 hit-and-run case involving Salman, the then manager of “Rain Bar” Rizwan Khan said that the actor — whom he had escorted till the door of his restaurant on the night of incident — was not smelling of alcohol when he left the bar with his group on that night.
The prosecution’s case has been that in the September 28, 2002 hit-and-run incident, Salman – allegedly in a drunken state — drove his land Cruiser recklessly near the American Express Bakery residence at Bandra in north-west Mumbai, killing a pavement dweller and injuring four others, who were asleep on the same pavement.
“Salman’s group had ordered drinks and snacks, but I am not sure whether Salman had consumed drinks himself as the order had been taken by a waiter and not me,” Rizwan told the trial court.
During a cross-examination by Prosecutor Jagannath Kenjarlkar, Rizwan said that the actor and his brother Sohail Khan were initially standing in front of the service counter as the restaurant was full at that time. “After some time they occupied a table and ordered drinks and snacks,” he said.
Responding to a question from the Prosecutor, Rizwan said: “I saw Salman holding a glass, but it was full with a colourless liquid like water.” Queried if the liquid was indeed liquor, the bar manager said he was not sure because the order had been taken by the waiter.
To another query, Rizwan confirmed that he had escorted Salman and his group to the main door of the restaurant when they left the bar between 1.15 am and 1.30 am on that night. “However, at that time, Salman was not smelling of liquor. He was walking like a normal person,” he added.
Rizwan’s testimony went along the lines of a deposition made by waiter of the same restaurant Molay Baug on May 19, 2014. Baug had told the court that he had served cocktails and Bacardi (White Rum) and some snacks to a group of friends that Salman had brought to “Rain Bar” on the night of the incident, but could not remember if the actor had indeed consumed drinks.
“There were around 250 customers in the bar at that time. Though I identified Salman when I took and served the order to the table where the actor was sitting, I am not sure if Salman indeed consumed liquor ordered by the group,” Baug had told court during a cross-examination.
Rizwan’s deposition came on a day when another witness, Ramashree Pandey, who owns a dairy shop near the American Bakery where the mishap had taken place, testified that he had seen the actor getting down from the front seat of his car after the mishap.
“I was standing 15 feet away from the car. I saw Salman getting down from the car. There was no one else sitting on the front side of the car after Salman moved out from car,” Pandey said.
During the cross-examination, Pandey elaborated: “I saw only one man coming out from the front side of the car and he was Salman. At that time, his bodyguard, Ravindra Patil was standing outside”. (Patil is no more. He died of acute bilateral tuberculosis, at a city civic TB hospital on October 3, 2007).
Pandey recalled that he had reached the mishap site after hearing shouts from the people in the area. “My shop is located close to the American Bakery where people sleep on the footpath in the night….When I reached the accident spot, about 50 to 60 people had gathered there. Some people were beneath the car and I could hear their voices crying for help,” he said.
“There was a hue and cry on the spot and people gathered there were in an angry mood. They got violent and started throwing stones at the car,” the witness told the court, while confirming that he had seen Salman get down from the front side of the car.
With the two new depositions, the total number of witnesses who have testified before the court during the re-trial, has gone up to nine.