A Mumbai court will announce on Tuesday the date of the verdict in the Salman Khan road death case of 2002 after the prosecution and defence completed their final arguments on Monday.
On the concluding day of his final arguments, defence counsel Shrikant Shivade argued that the evidence of the actor’s former police bodyguard, Ravindra Patil, should not be accepted because he died and is not available for cross-examination.
However, the prosecution said enough opportunity had been given to the defence to cross-examine Patil.
Patil was a critical witness who was the police bodyguard assigned to Khan at the time of the incident and he had also filed a complaint, alleging that the actor was drunk on the morning of September 28, 2002, when his vehicle rammed into a bakery in Bandra west, killing one man and injuring four others.
In a related development on Monday, Additional Sessions Judge D.W. Deshpande issued contempt notices to the Bandra police station and two Mumbai tabloids for recreating the incident and publishing details with pictures.
The contempt notices were issued on a plea by Shivade, which was supported by special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat, that at the end of the trial this could cause prejudice to the accused.
Shivade moved an application against Bandra police officer Rajendra Kane for recreating the scene of the collision and other things, which were published by two city tabloids on Sunday.
Gharat filed a separate application seeking action against Kane for doing an act without consulting him and pointed out that Gharat had in the past warned Kane against any action that could embarrass the prosecution.
In another development, social activist Santosh Daundkar filed an application in the court seeking action against police officials for perjury in the case.
He claims the police brought in a wrong set of medical professionals in the case to lead evidence which vitiated the trial resulting in undue delays.
Judge Deshpande will hear the plea on Thursday.
The verdict date that was to be announced on Monday has been postponed by a day in view of certain other issues before the court.
Khan is charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, which attracts a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. He’s also charged with rash and negligent driving, causing hurt by actions endangering life and causing grievous hurt, damaging property and drink driving.