Till now, Salman Khan had been exempted from appearing in court in regards to the poaching of two chinkara deer and blackbuck. But not any more. The actor has been asked to re-appear before Jodhpur Court on March 10, 2014 to record his statement.
In his initial statement in the court, Salman had said that he had no arms with him in Jodhpur and they were in Mumbai. “I had called for those arms from Mumbai to Jodhpur only after the Forest Department asked me,” stated Salman.
Salman had also told the court that he had not indulged in poaching and that the investigation officer and forest officer had fabricated a case against him.
Salman’s rifle and revolver were seized by the court when he was first accused of poaching and their licenses were found to have expired.
Salman was summoned by the Chief Judicial Magistrate after being exempted from appearing in court till now. He had appealed that his arms act deposition should be clubbed with the blackbuck case which is still under trial, but the court ruled against it.
SALMAN KHAN GETS MOBBED AT THE JODHPUR COURT:
He has been accused of hunting and killing the endangered deer while shooting his film Hum Saath Saath Hain in Rajasthan in 1998. His co-stars, Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam, have been charged with inciting the actor to hunt.
Salman has already spent time in the Jodhpur jail in connection to the case, once in 1998 and the second time around in 2007.
Fresh charges in the poaching case were framed against him in March 2012. This was after the first ruling from the Rajasthan High Court and then the Supreme Court that Section 148 of the Arms Act, or rioting with deadly weapons, could not be applied to him.
Then, in November 2013, the Rajasthan High Court ordered that Salman Khan‘s poaching conviction be suspended for visa purposes. This was so that it was easier for the actor, who had been denied an UK visa to shoot his film Kick, to travel abroad.
We hope that Salman Khan gets out of this legal mess as soon as possible
