Following the reappearance of the “missing” papers in the Salman Khan hit-and-run case, the trial against the actor will resume at the sessions court in Mumbai from September 24.
The prosecution on Friday told the court that all the original documents — barring one — pertaining to witness statements and case diaries “missing” for the past few months were found.
Producing the 63 documents, the prosecution also assured Sessions Judge D. W. Deshpande that the single missing document would be found soon.
The prosecution informed the court of the missing documents first in July following which the case was adjourned until August.
In August, the prosecution again said the documents and case diaries could not be found.
After reprimanding the prosecution, the judge ordered the police to search for all the missing papers as soon as possible to ensure the trial goes on.
Khan’s lawyer, Shrikant Shivade, contended that the trial could not continue without the original documents, while the prosecution countered by saying that it could proceed with true copies, which were available.
Meanwhile, Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria ordered a probe and the missing documents were recovered from the Bandra Police Station on August 26.
When newly-appointed public prosecution Pradeep Gharat produced the documents before the court, Judge Deshpande took them on record and directed him to proceed with the examination of witnesses from September 24.
Till date, 11 witnesses have already deposed in the case before the documents went missing.
On December 5 last year, the sessions court ordered a fresh trial on grounds that the witnesses were not examined in the context of the enhanced charge of “culpable homicide not amounting to murder” slapped on the actor by a magistrate court.
The magistrate earlier tried him on the less serious offence of causing “death by negligence”, which attracts a two-year jail term, but midway through the trial, the charge of “culpable homicide not amounting to murder”, which carried a 10-year sentence, was added.
The ruling by the lower court came after examining 17 witnesses and the matter was transferred to the sessions court.
Salman Khan allegedly mowed down five pavement dwellers with his car, killing one and injuring four others outside a bakery in suburban Bandra, on September 28, 2002.
