The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea seeking a CBI probe into the 2002 hit-and-run case on the ground that corrupt means have been adopted in securing the acquittal of Bollywood superstar Salman Khan.
“These are all wild allegations. He must have spent Rs 25 crore on lawyers,” a Bench comprising Justices J S Khehar and R Banumathi observed when the lawyer said there were news reports quoting Salim Khan that they had to spend Rs 25 crore in securing acquittal for his actor son. "What are the materials to substantiate this? They must have hired lawyers. How can you say that they did something wrong," it said and dismissed the PIL filed by advocate M L Sharma.
The PIL had alleged that Salman and others had "succeeded" in manipulating "police and judicial system" in the case. The same Bench is hearing appeals filed by Maharashtra government and the family of the victim, who were killed in the incident, against the acquittal of Salman in the case.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, who represents the state government in the case, had argued that Salman was driving his SUV in a drunken state when it ran over the victims sleeping on a pavement in Mumbai in 2002.