As the prolonged trial in the hit-and-run case involving Bollywood actor Salman Khan inched towards the finishing line, Additional Sessions Judge DW Deshpande said on Saturday that he would fix on Monday the date of judgement in the case. On a day when defence lawyer Shrikant Shivade – continuing his final arguments — contested the Prosecution’s evidence that the accused actor had run away from the scene after the mishap and urged the court to discard the evidence of Salman’s police guard and complainant in the case, the Judge asked Shivade to conclude his final argument on Monday.
Making it clear to both the defence counsel and Prosecution that he would not give more time to them to make additional submissions in the case, Judge Deshpande said, “I would decide on the date of Judgement on Monday”. When Shivade persisted and wanted to know if the court would permit him to conclude his final arguments on Tuesday instead of Monday, the Judge told the defence lawyer point blank, “No No…You finish your arguments on Monday itself, I would be announcing the date of verdict.”
On its part, the Prosecution has closed its evidence in the case. 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.
The Prosecution’s case is that Salman — allegedly in a drunken state — had on the night of September 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 CrPC.
Forty-nine-year-old 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 (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). The maximum punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder is 10 years of imprisonment.
Meanwhile, continuing final arguments for the fifth day, the actor’s lawyer dubbed as a “cooked up story” the Prosecution’s version that the accused actor ran away from the scene, after his car rammed into the bakery at Bandra killing one person and injuring four others on the night of September 28, 2002. “The actor was very present at the mishap scene for some time as revealed by the Prosecution witnesses themselves,” defence lawyer Shivade told the court, as he quoted the Prosecution witnesses having deposed before the court that the actor was present at the spot for “five to ten minutes” after the mishap.
Shivade also contested the Prosecution’s version that the actor had absconded after the mishap and was not found at his home. Quoting a statement by car dealer and actor Chunky Pandey’s brother Chinky Pandey who had visited the actor at his residence in the morning after the mishap, the defence lawyer said: “My client was very much present at his residence in Galaxy Apartments in Bandra”
The defence lawyer urged the trial court to discard the evidence of eye-witness and complainant Ravindra Patil, the actor’s police body guard who died of acute bilateral tuberculosis, at a city civic TB hospital 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.
Making a case for the court discarding Patil’s evidence, the defence lawyer said: “When police reached the mishap site and asked Patil about the accident, he kept quiet. An FIR was lodged later, he had made a supplementary statement also...Patil has alleged that Khan was under the influence of liquor and was driving the car. Being a policeman, he knew that drunken driving was a serious offence. Why did he not disclose to police the actor’s role when they first inquired about the mishapIJ”.
Shivade pointed out that non—disclosure by Patil would render the subsequent FIR illegal. “In view of the aggravated charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder being added, prejudice was caused to the defence because Patil is no longer available for cross-examination,” the defence lawyer told the court.
Shivade sought to make a strong case for the court accepting the evidence provided by the actor’s driver Ashok Singh, who owned up the responsibility of an accident, by describing “most truthful and natural witness”. “He is the most truthful and natural witness. In fact, he supports what the Prosecution has been saying. During his cross-examination, the core of his testimony was not questioned,” Shivade said.
Buttressing the stand taken by Salman Khan in his defence in the much-discussed hit-and-run case, his driver Ashok Singh had 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.