Salman Khan illegal arms case: Jodhpur court permits new witnesses, defers verdict further

Jaipur, Mar 4: A local court in Jodhpur permitted new witnesses, documents and evidence in the Arms Act case in the black buck poaching incident involving actor Salman Khan. The public prosecution representing the state had brought up a nine-year-old plea to produce new evidence and witnesses in the case during the last hearing on February 25 when the court was set to pronounce its verdict.

On Tuesday, the court allowed as many as 24 new witnesses as stated in three different pleas in August 2006 to appear before the court on March 10. “The court maintained that next hearing will be the last opportunity for the prosecution to produce any new evidence or witness,” said Hastimal Saraswat, Khan’s lawyer.

Khan is accused of poaching three chinkaras and a black buck near Jodhpur in September and early October of 1998 during the shooting of a film ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain.’ The forest department had then registered a case under the Arms Act with the local police alleging that the licenses of the weapons used by him had expired and thereby making the use illegal. Khan has argued in court that he had applied for a renewal of licence for the weapons soon after it expired and hence was not using them illegally.

The local court in Jodhpur could sentence Khan to between three to seven years in jail if found guilty. However, he could be granted bail immediately.