2002 road accident case: Court stays arrest warrant against Salman Khan

In a relief to Bollywood actor Salman Khan, a sessions court on Wednesday agreed to keep the warrant issued against him in a road accident case in abeyance, till the process of submission of fresh surety is not completed.

The actor on Wednesday approached a sessions court for cancellation of bailable warrant issued over non-compliance with process of surety in connection with the 2002 road accident case.

In February, Khan had approached the Supreme Court for discharge of present surety given by his publicity manager Reshma Shetty and wanted to replace the same with the surety of his bodyguard Gurmeet Singh Jolly. The Apex court which is hearing the appeal filed against his acquittal in the 2002 case by the state government, had allowed his plea on February 23. He was asked to comply with the process.

The sessions court had issued two notices to Khan. Khan’s lawyer Niranjan Mundargi on Wednesday told the court that the judgement of the court in Jodhpur had delayed the process. Mundargi contended that “Jolly had got a solvency certificate valid till March 2, 2018.

Since it was about to expire, Khan sought extension of validity of solvency certificate as time taken for verification would have made the whole process redundant. On April 3, the solvency certificate was received. However, Khan was in Jodhpur since April 4. On April 10, he furnished the certificate before the court, and the same is pending before the police for verification.”

It was argued that as soon as the verification is completed and the report is submitted, Khan would appear before the court and comply with the remaining process. Till then Mundargi prayed that the warrant issued against the actor be kept in abeyance. The sessions judge MG Deshpande accepted the plea and has stayed the warrant till the process is completed. The warrant was issued on April 4 by the court after the actor failed to respond to the two notices sent by the court for compliance of the surety.