10 facts that could see the Salman Khan verdict swing either way

With the final verdict to be announced on Wednesday (May 6) in the Salman Khan hit-and-run case, many questions still remain unanswered, despite public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat’s efforts to unravel one of the most complicated cases in Bollywood's history over the last 12 years.

The now infamous Bollywood actor, who has pleaded not guilty, is accused of ramming his car, allegedly drunk, into the American Bakery in Mumbai's filmstar-studded suburb Bandra, early hours on September 28, 2002, where one person died and four others were injured.

The maximum sentence that can be handed out to him is ten years on the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. 

Lets take a look at 10 of the most interesting twists in this case.

1. Why did witnesses see Salman Khan flee the crime scene? 

So far all witnesses in the case have testified that Salman Khan and his cousin Kamaal Khan, fled the crime scene after the accident. Why would someone who was not driving, run away? Did he in fact run away or did he stay back to help? 

2. Before Ravindra Patil died, why did he confess that Salman Khan was driving?

Another critical turning point in the case was the confession of Salman Khan’s police bodyguard, who was also in the vehicle during the time of the accident, and who said before he died that Salman Khan was driving the vehicle after drinking at a hotel on a night out, despite warnings to not drink and drive. Is this at all true (based on next point)? 

3. In a shocking twist to the case, why did Ravindra Patil become a hostile witness?

Despite admitting that Salman Khan was drink-driving in his First Information Report to the police, why did Patil defect and become a hostile witness? He was later suspended from the police force. Was he pressurised into doing so? Or was he lying in the beginning and what reason did he have to lie?

4. Why didn't any witness see the driver Ashok Singh if he was there?

None of the witnesses (other than Salman Khan and Kamaal Khan) have said they saw driver Ashok Singh present at the scene of the crime. If he was indeed present, let alone actually driving the vehicle, why didn’t anyone see him? Are all the witnesses lying? Is this a set up against Salman Khan?

5. Why did driver Ashok Singh (and the Khan family) stay quiet for 13 years about who was actually driving the vehicle during the time of the crash?

Is it because Salman Khan was magnanimously protecting his driver and taking the fall instead? Or has Ashok Singh been handsomely paid off to take the blame?

6. If Ashok Singh was driving the vehicle and guilty of subsequently crashing it into the American Express Bakery in Bandra West, Mumbai, killing one, why didn't the Salman Khan immediately fire him and hand him over to the police?

Is it because he was never really there at all and this plan was hatched only after the case didn't die down as was expected? Or again, is it because Salman Khan is such a magnanimous human being and chose to help his driver as much as he could?

7. Why did all the witnesses see Salman Khan get out of the driver’s seat?

If the driver, Ashok Singh, was in fact driving the vehicle, why has every witness questioned, testified in court that they saw Salman Khan getting out of the right hand side of the vehicle? (In India, the steering wheel is on the right hand side). Also why did no one (besides Salman Khan and musician Kamaal Khan) see Ashok Singh behind the wheel? Is it because Singh was never really behind the wheel? Or is it because Salman’s left door was jammed, as was claimed, and so he had to get out from the right hand side of the vehicle?

8. Why was alcohol found in Salman Khan’s blood?

An analysis of Salman Khan's blood sample revealed the presence of 62mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood that night.

9. Why did the valet token, handed to Salman Khan at the JW Marriott Hotel in Juhu, go missing despite being handed over to the police?

Is this part of a covert cover-up? Or has it been misplaced? According to the valet assistant who handed Sallu the keys to his car when he left the hotel, Salman got into the driver’s seat. And according to the witness, it was usual practice to write down a guest’s name on the valet token when they handed their vehicles to the valet.

10. Why was an investigation suppressed in an earlier case?

In the previous Black Buck case against him, Salman Khan asked to suppress a lower court’s decision to allow examination of four witnesses related to illegal possession and use of arms. This was a petition submitted by him to the Rajasthan High Court, which was eventually denied. On the night of October 1, 1998, Sallu allegedly hunted two blackbucks, a protected animal under the Wildlife Protection Act, on the outskirts of Kankani village.