Salman was in driver’s seat, say eyewitnesses

The eyewitnesses — Mannu Khan, Mohammed Kalim Iqbal Pathan and Muslim Shaikh — were among those injured. They were all workers of the American Bakery outside which the accident took place.

Khan was present in court. Even while the actor’s lawyers have argued for more than a decade that he was not at the wheel, the witnesses said they saw Khan getting out from the driver’s side of the Toyota Land Cruiser a little after 2 a.m. on 28 September.

While one witness said he saw the actor getting down from the front door on the right hand side, the other said he had seen Salman getting down from the driver’s seat. Another witness said the actor had got down from the vehicle but did not remember from which side he got down. At the end of the proceedings, the Bandra police moved an application to the court saying that Shaikh had received a threat calI. Inspector Rajendra Kane of the Bandra police station said that a case had been registered and the investigation was underway.

‘Shaikh told us that he had received two anonymous calls asking him to back away from deposing. The court has directed us to investigate the complaint and submit a report by 19 May. We are tracing the caller,’ he said.

‘We were sleeping and there was a huge noise and a car came over us. Kalim, Muslim, Nurullah and I were beneath the car. I started screaming for help. Many people came there. Somehow they pushed the car and rescued us. I had an injury on my right hand. People were saying ‘Salman come out’. Salman Khan got down from the driver’s side…The bakery people caught Salman. Salman was so drunk that he fell down, then he got up and ran away,’ said Mannu Khan.