A district court on Tuesday heard a plea by Bollywood star Salman Khan against his conviction in the 1998 black buck poaching case and fixed August 3 and 4 for further hearing.
The hearing on Khan’s appeal continued for around three hours in the court of District and Sessions Judge Chandra Kumar Sonagara.
Khan was convicted for shooting and killing two black bucks in Kankani village near Jodhpur on the night of October 1, 1998, during the filming of Hum Saath Saath Hain.
His co-stars and co-accused Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre, who had accompanied the actor that night, were acquitted by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Jodhpur Rural.
Defending his client in the court, defence lawyer Mahesh Bora cited two similar cases of Chinkara poaching wherein Khan was acquitted by the Rajasthan High Court.
He contended that these two cases had similar evidence, documents and similar prosecution stories, and asked why Khan should be held guilty in this case.
During the last hearing, defence counsel Hastimal Saraswat had submitted an application in the district court, arguing that the black buck poaching case and the Arms Act case registered should be heard together since both were similar in nature and had common witnesses.
The court had fixed July 17 for hearing in both the cases.
However, as per the court process, the Arms Act case hearing will start only after poaching case hearing ends, said sources.
Khan was granted bail in the poaching case on April 7, after spending two nights in the Jodhpur Central Jail. He was sentenced to five years in jail on April 5 by the CJM court in the case.
