Salman Khan’s fate will be decided at 11.15 am, May 6
Mumbai Mirror Bureau
Salman Khan, who could face up to 10 years in jail in the 2002 hit-and-run case, will know his fate on May 6. “The verdict will be pronounced on May 6 at 11.15 sharp,” Additional Sessions Judge DW Deshpande told court room no 52, packed with reporters and lawyers, on Tuesday.
The judge thanked the special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat and defence counsel Shrikant Shivade for their cooperation in expediting the trial. “We have done our job, it is all up to the court now,” Gharat said after exchanging a brief hug with Shivade.
The first trial in the case, in which Salman was charged with relatively minor charges of rash driving, drink-driving and running away after the accident (punishable by up to two years in jail), was conducted in a magistrate’s court in Bandra. Before that trial ended, a graver charge of culpable homicide was added and the case was transferred to the sessions court. The current trial, which began on July 24, 2013, has seen a number of sensational twists and turns.
The prosecution examined 27 witnesses. A key witness, Sachin Kadam, who was a security guard at the erstwhile Neel Sagar hotel, refused to recognise Salman as the man who had been driving and who had run away from the spot. Kadam was declared a hostile witness. Another crucial prosecution witness is the late constable Ravindra Patil, the complainant in the case, who was in the car at the time of the accident; he had been deployed for Salman’s security. In the earlier trial, Patil, who died of TB, had claimed that the actor was drunk and speeding. Though Patil’s statement in the earlier trial has been taken on record, the defence has urged that it not be relied upon as he could not be examined in the present trial.
A big twist in the trial came when the defence claimed that it was not Salman but his driver Ashok Singh who was behind the wheel on that fateful night, and another one came when the defence suggested that it was the car slipping from the crane that killed the pavement dweller, and not the accident itself.
Salman Khan, who could face up to 10 years in jail in the 2002 hit-and-run case, will know his fate on May 6. “The verdict will be pronounced on May 6 at 11.15 sharp,” Additional Sessions Judge DW Deshpande told court room no 52, packed with reporters and lawyers, on Tuesday.
The judge thanked the special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat and defence counsel Shrikant Shivade for their cooperation in expediting the trial. “We have done our job, it is all up to the court now,” Gharat said after exchanging a brief hug with Shivade.
As both lawyers exited the courtroom, the appreciation continued. On the fourth floor corridor of the City Civil and Sessions Court, Salman’s sister Alvira Khan Agnihotri - who has probably not missed a single hearing in the case in the last 12-plus years - and a barrage of lawyers appreciated Gharat, who also exchanged pleasantries with them.
The first trial in the case, in which Salman was charged with relatively minor charges of rash driving, drink-driving and running away after the accident (punishable by up to two years in jail), was conducted in a magistrate’s court in Bandra. Before that trial ended, a graver charge of culpable homicide was added and the case was transferred to the sessions court. The current trial, which began on July 24, 2013, has seen a number of sensational twists and turns.
The prosecution examined 27 witnesses. A key witness, Sachin Kadam, who was a security guard at the erstwhile Neel Sagar hotel, refused to recognise Salman as the man who had been driving and who had run away from the spot. Kadam was declared a hostile witness. Another crucial prosecution witness is the late constable Ravindra Patil, the complainant in the case, who was in the car at the time of the accident; he had been deployed for Salman’s security. In the earlier trial, Patil, who died of TB, had claimed that the actor was drunk and speeding. Though Patil’s statement in the earlier trial has been taken on record, the defence has urged that it not be relied upon as he could not be examined in the present trial.
A big twist in the trial came when the defence claimed that it was not Salman but his driver Ashok Singh who was behind the wheel on that fateful night, and another one came when the defence suggested that it was the car slipping from the crane that killed the pavement dweller, and not the accident itself.
