Decision on Salman Khan’s bail plea in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case has been reserved until Saturday, 7 April. The actor will have to spend another day in custody, till the Jodhpur sessions court announces its decision at 10.30am tomorrow.
The actor was convicted by a Jodhpur trial court yesterday (5 April) after he was found guilty under section 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act. His lawyer had appealed for a minimum sentence, however the actor was awarded 5 years in prison.
It was the important testimonies of eye-witnesses Poonam Chand and Chhoga Ram, as well as the post-mortem report of the mammal that nailed Salman.
The co-accused in the case – Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam Kothari – were acquitted citing lack of evidence against them. The artistes were shooting for the film Hum Saath-Saath Hai (1999) in Jodhpur when the crime took place.
The bail plea hearing began in the Jodhpur sessions court at 10.30am today (6 April), with the defense presenting its statement and reasons why the actor should receive bail. But before presenting his case, Salman’s lawyer, Anand Desai, claimed to have received threat calls from Ravi Pujari gang. According to him, he was ordered to leave the case.
The defense cited the unreliability of the eyewitness and the acquittal of the actor in other similar cases against him as reasons for granting him bail. The actor was accused in 2 more cases of poaching before.
However, the actor will now have to wait for another day to hear the decision. If denied, he can appeal again in a higher court.