Bollywood actor Salman Khan on Wednesday asserted in the Supreme Court that he was falsely implicated and framed by the Maharashtra government in the 2002 car hit-and-run case in which one person died. While the trial court sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment, the Bombay high court acquitted him.
In an affidavit filed in response to the Maharashtra government’s appeal against the high court order acquitting him, Salman Khan said he was not driving the car at the time of the accident and that only his driver, Ashok Singh, was driving the car. Seeking dismissal of the appeal, he said Ashok Singh had called the police control room after the accident and even went to the police station to record his statement, alleging that the police refused to record it, saying they were under pressure to arrest the actor.
Salman Khan said there were two other people in the car besides his bodyguard Ravindra Patil and himself — his driver Ashok Singh and singer Kamaal Khan, whose testimony was never recorded by the police. Salman Khan has alleged that even when the case came to the Bombay high court, the prosecution falsely claimed that Kamaal Khan did not respond to the summons. The actor said the summons were issued on a wrong address.
Salman Khan also claimed that he had only taken water at the rave party at Rain Bar and alleged the prosecution had deliberately ignored recording the testimony of his close friend Kamaal Khan, a British citizen who was present in the vehicle. “It is also shocking that the police fabricated evidence by collecting random bills from Rain Bar, and tampering with these to try and implicate the respondent. Further, it is shocking that the police did not conduct a proper forensic examination of the said vehicle,” Salman said.
According to the actor, despite the law being clear that all eye-witnesses must be examined unless they are repetitive, only Ravindra Patil was examined before the court of additional chief metropolitan magistrate, Bandra, Mumbai, when the trial was on a charge under Section 304 A of the IPC (death due to rash and negligent act), with other charges carrying a shorter maximum possible sentence. Kamaal Khan was not examined by the prosecution despite being listed as a prosecution witnesses, he said.
