Salman gets 5-year jail for blackbuck poaching
BY MPOST BUREAU5 April 2018 11:33 PM IST
MPOST BUREAU6 April 2018 5:14 AM IST
Jodhpur: A Jodhpur court on Thursday sentenced Bollywood superstar Salman Khan to five years in prison and sent him to the Jodhpur Central Jail for killing two blackbucks in October 1998.
The court acquitted his colleagues Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre and a local, Dushyant Singh, giving them the "benefit of the doubt", a prosecution lawyer said.
Salman Khan was in court for the verdict in what is known to be his "lucky" black shirt. His sisters Alvira and Arpita reportedly broke down in court after the verdict was read out.
Stargazers, media crews and security personnel converged on the court premises and lined up along the two-kilometre route from the court as the 52-year-old was whisked away in a Bolero police jeep to spend a night in jail.
Salman Khan has been taken to the Jodhpur Central Jail. In 2006, he had spent five nights in the jail. Salman Khan will be in the same prison as rape convict Asaram Bapu.
Salman has earlier spent a total of 18 days in the jail in 1998, 2006 and 2007, all for cases of poaching.
As the sentence is more than three years, Salman will have to appeal to a higher court for bail.
Final arguments, in this case, were completed in the trial court on March 28, after which Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri had reserved his judgment.
On Thursday, the court sentenced him to five years in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000, prosecution lawyer Mahipal Bishnoi said.
Held guilty under Section 9/51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, he had faced a maximum punishment of six years behind bars.
The antelopes were shot dead near a village of Bishnois, a community that worships the animals and is passionate about protecting them. Salman Khan spotted a herd of blackbuck and shot two of them dead, said the prosecution in court.
The court heard 28 witnesses including Bishnoi villagers who came out running from their huts on hearing gunshots.
The Bishnois alleged that they took a bike and chased the Gypsy, but the actor got away. The deer carcass was found at the spot after the actors left.
All the accused, some of them accompanied by their family members, were in the courtroom when the verdict was read out.
The case was in the spotlight with the media monitoring every development, his legion of fans tuned into social media and television and trade analysts watching anxiously to know the fate of the star who has an estimated Rs 600 riding on his next ventures -- "Race 3", "Bharat" and "Dabangg 3".
"All his films make a minimum of Rs 200 crore. There are three films already announced. 'Race 3' is the biggest Eid release. So, approximately Rs 600 crore...," trade analyst Girish Wankhede said.
Actor-turned-politician Jaya Bachchan appeared upset with the Jodhpur court verdict against actor Salman Khan as she said the actor should have been given relief. See P13
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