The lower court’s had handed him one and five years’ imprisonment in the two separate cases.
AB Wire
The Rajasthan High Court in Jodhpur on Monday acquitted actor Salman Khan in the blackbuck and Chinkara poaching cases of 1998.
The actor had appealed before the high court challenging the lower court’s verdict that had handed him one and five years’ imprisonment, respectively, in the two separate cases of poaching.
Today’s verdict came as a big relief to the actor who has spent time in a Jodhpur jail twice and currently out on bail.
“When the court asked for bullets recovered it was proved that they were not fired from that gun,†Khan’s lawyer Hastimal Saraswat said.
Salman Khan was convicted in two cases of poaching on the nights of October 1 and 2 in Mathania and Kankani near Jodhpur during the shooting of Sooraj Barjatya’s ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’, Besides Salman, actors Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam were also charged in poaching case.
In 2007, Salman was sentenced to five years in jail and he spent six days in Jodhpur Central Jail before his sentence was suspended by the High Court later.
Later, the High Court dropped charges under Arms Act against him on his appeal.
In December 2012, the high court had revised the charges against the actor and he was charged with section 9/51 of the Wildlife Protection Act.
Black buck and Chinkara are protected animals and hunting or poaching of these animals is a punishable offence under law.