Blackbuck died of natural causes, Salman claims in Jodhpur court

JODHPUR: Bollywood Actor Salman Khan on Friday recorded his statement in a

Jodhpur

court regarding the blackbuck poaching case and said that the

blackbuck

had a natural death.

"Only the first forensic report of Dr Nepalia saying that the animal died of "natural causes" was true and the rest of the evidence is false," Salman said.

The actor was asked 60-odd questions by the Jodhpur magistrate to most of which he said "galat"

The questions asked to him were a summary of the prosecution case against him and the evidence produced so far in court.

Actress Sonali Bendre

Salman was standing between his lawyers from Mumbai, Anand Desai, and others. He was wearing a blue shirt and blue denims, his favourite colour for court dates.




The chief judicial magistrate Dalpat Singh Rajpurohit asked the star, "You were seen by two people who said they saw you shoot the blackbuck". His said, "galat". The other questions were about the truthfulness of whether his gun was without a licence.

Neelam and Tabu

The court said the jeep was found with blood stains and hair of the blackbucks to which Salman said "false". "You went shooting at night?" the court said. "False", said Salman Khan.

The court completed recording the statement of Saif Ali Khan, too.

Salman Khan and a few other Bollywood actors were accused of poaching blackbucks on the night of October 1, 1998 during the shooting of Hindi movie "Hum Saath Saath Hain".

The actor was also accused of carrying and using illegal arms. A case under the Arms Act was registered against him.

Earlier on January 18, Salman Khan was acquitted of all charges by the Jodhpur court in the Arms Act case in the alleged poaching of blackbucks.

The court, in its 102-page order, did not find him accused under Sections 3/25 and 3/27 of the Arms Act.

Chief judicial magistrate Dalpat Singh Rajpurohit announced the ruling after having completed the hearing on January 9.

Next date of hearing in Jodhpur court will be held on February 15.

With inputs from PTIRead this story in Marathi


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