Bollywood actor Salman Khan has been asked to appear before the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) in Jodhpur on April 23 to record his statement after four witness testimonies were examined on Friday. Khan is facing trial under the Arms Act.
The court of CJM was to announce its judgement on February 25, but the final decision was deferred after noticing that four applications of the prosecution were pending since 2006.
Thereafter, the court heard all the applications and allowed prosecution to examine four more witnesses and three forensic lab reports along with the relevant material.
Although Khan filed a petition before the high court, challenging the decision of the trial court, it was rejected on April 10.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Anupama Bijlani on Friday asked Khan’s counsel Hastimal Sarswat to ensure his presence in court next week.
“It is a procedure of the court that after examination of prosecution witnesses, [the] accused’s statements are required to be recorded and Salman Khan has been asked to appear in the court on April 23 for recording of his statements,” advocate Sarswat said.
On October 1-2, 1998, during the shooting of the movie Hum Saath Saath Hain, two black bucks, a protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act, were allegedly killed on the outskirts of Kankani village near Jodhpur.
Khan, along with a few other stars, was accused of poaching the black bucks.
He was also accused of carrying and using arms with an expired licence.
