Salman Khan was convicted by a sessions court which held him guilty in the hit-and-run case
Bollywood actor Salman Khan's lawyers have introduced a new argument in the appeal against his conviction in the 2002 hit-and-run case and told the Bombay High Court on Monday that the prosecution did not examine several important witnesses including the actor's brother Sohail Khan and the other family members. (Also Read:
Salman Khan Hit-and-Run: Witness Not Asked Crucial Question, Argues Defence )
In his arguments before Justice AR Joshi, Salman's advocate Amit Desai said, "The main allegation is that Salman was drunk when the mishap took place but the witnesses were mum on this aspect. The star witness is late Ravindra Patil, the police bodyguard of Salman at that time. He does not speak a word about Salman consuming alcohol or smelling of alcohol in his first complaint."
He further stated, "Sohail Khan was not examined, singer Kamaal Khan, who had accompanied Salman in the car, also was not examined. Vikram Fadnis too was not examined."
Except for Rain Bar Manager Rizwan Ali Rakhangi and waiter Malay Semerendra Bag, none of the other persons present there was examined, Desai said. According to the police, Salman had taken drinks at this bar before the accident.
Fifteen parking attendants of J W Marriott hotel (where Salman had reportedly visited before the mishap) except one (Kalpesh Verma) and none of the hotel staff were examined. The prosecution also didn't examine Salman Khan's relatives at Galaxy Apartments and the wife of PW7 (Francis Fernandes) who took him away in a taxi from the mishap site." "Prosecution witness-6 (Balu Muthe), the security guard of Sohail Khan, also does not speak anything on this issue.
He is an important witness for the prosecution, he goes in a car with Sohail Khan and Vikram Fadnis from Salman's Galaxy Apartments to the Rain Bar & Restaurant, however, when Salman Khan comes out of the Rain Bar, the witness is silent about the actor's condition.
Was he (Salman) smelling of alcohol? Was he was slurring? There is nothing to suggest that he had taken alcohol at Rain Bar. He (Muthe) also did not say anything about who was in the driver's seat," Mr Desai added. Salman's lawyer also claimed that the actor had given up drinking ahead of the 'muhurat' of his new film
Garv and that the bar bills produced by the Bandra police had been 'manipulated'.
He also questioned the delay in taking the actor for a medical test after the mishap. "The accident happened at 2.45 am in the morning and blood samples were taken at JJ Hospital at 2.30 pm. Why this delay? Till 2.45 am, no one smelt of alcohol, there is a huge gap, a gap of 12 hours," he said, adding that post-2.30 pm event suggested that there were "attempts to extrapolate backwards.
The accident happens and he (Salman) is first taken to Bhabha Hospital, which despite being a civic hospital with an operation theatre and ICU, does not have blood sample drawing facilities. Then he is taken to JJ Hospital, where .62 mg of alcohol is found in blood. The time-gap was very wide. If a man has drinks at 8 am or 10 am to soothe his nerves, what would be the results at 2.30 pm?," said Mr Desai.
Referring to the Alistair Pereira case, in which the accused ran over pedestrians while driving in an inebriated state, Salman's lawyer pointed out that a liquor bottle had actually been found in his car and this was not so in the current case.
The defence further accused the police of 'planting' bills since they could not find the actual bills paid by Salman and his friends and wanted to prove that Salman and his friends had consumed alcohol. As per Salman's lawyer, the manager of Rain Bar had already deposed before trial court that he was asked to sign four bills 'selected' by the police.
"Wrong set of bills (from the Rain bar) were produced in the court because police wanted to show that Salman and his friends had consumed liquor on that night. The date on the bills should have been September 28, 2002 and not September 27," Mr Desai alleged.
Salman Khan was convicted on May 6 this year by a sessions court which held him guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The actor was found guilty of ramming his car into a shop in suburban Bandra on September 28, 2002, killing one person and injuring four people who were sleeping on the pavement.