Blackbuck poaching case: Salman Khan’s bail plea verdict to be out post-lunch

NEW DELHI: The near future of Bollywood actor, Salman Khan, who is currently lodged in Jodhpur Central Jail, will be decided in a few hours.

According to Hastimal Saraswat, Salman’s attorney in Blackbuck poaching case, the verdict will be pronounced post the lunch.

The bail plea was heard in a Jodhpur court on Saturday regarding the actor’s conviction for 5 years in the endangered species’ poaching case.

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Earlier, the hearing was supposed to happen on Friday but was rescheduled to the next day due to the transfer of 88 judges by the Rajasthan High Court.

The actor had on Thursday appealed for a bail following his conviction in the 20-year-old case.

Salman Khan was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of killing two blackbucks in Jodhpur during the shooting of his movie 'Hum Saath Saath Hain' in 1998.

The other 4 accused – actors Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam, and Sonali Bendre – were acquitted in the case. 

Salman has earlier spent a total of 18 days in the jail in 1998, 2006 and 2007, all for cases of poaching.

Final arguments of the case were completed in the trial court on March 28, after which Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri had reserved his judgment.

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Held guilty under Section 9/51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, he had faced a maximum punishment of six years behind bars. While sentencing Salman, the court also noted that incidents of hunting of wild animals have been on the rise. The testimony of prosecution’s star witness Poonamchand nailed Salman but no prosecution witness, including Poonamchand, could identify the other accused in the case.

The actor shot and killed the blackbucks, from the antelope family, in Kankani village near Jodhpur on the night of October 1, 1998 during the shooting of the film "Hum Saath Saath Hain".

With an upwards of Rs 600 crore worth of major film projects under his belt, Bollywood shudders at the prospect of superstar Salman Khan spending five years in jail after Thursday's verdict in a 1998 blackbuck poaching case by a Rajasthan Court.

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A popular, high net-worth superstar, the 52-year-old actor is either acting in or producing through his family production houses, several major upcoming films with a potential to be blockbusters, Bollywood insiders said.

In the past decade or so, Salman has mega hits like "Ek Tha Tiger" and its sequel "Tiger Zinda Hai", then "Dabangg" and "Dabangg 2", besides "Sultan" and "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" among several others to his credit.

Currently, there are around half a dozen big-budget films lined up on the floor or at advanced planning stages, including "Race 3", which is almost complete, "Dabangg 3", "Partner 2", "Kick 2', "Bharat", "No Entry Mein Entry", "Sher Khan" and "Loveratri", said K. Ramji of Krishnamurthy Films.

(with input from agencies)