Blackbuck poaching case : Salman Khan sentenced to jail for five years
Jodhpur, Apr 5 (IBNS) : A trial court Jodhpur court on Thursday convicted Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, sentencing him to five years' imprisonment after he was found guilty in the blackbuck poaching case of 1998, reports said.
The actor was also fined Rs. 10,000.
The four other co-accused – Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam – have been acquitted.
Salman was denied a bail. He will be taken straight to the Jodhpur central jail from the court.
The actors were accused of poaching a blackbuck, an endangered species protected under the Indian Wildlife Act, in Kankani village of Jodhpur during the shooting of film Hum Saath Saath Hain in September, 1998.
Salman was convicted under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972.
Final arguments of the case were completed in the trial court on March 28, after which chief judicial magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri had reserved the judgment for Thursday.
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According to the complaint, Salman Khan had killed two black bucks. He was also charged for possessing a weapon with an expired license.
“All of them were in a Gypsy car that night, with Salman Khan in the driving seat. He, on spotting a herd of black bucks, shot at and killed two of them,” public prosecutor Bhawani Singh Bhati had said. “But on being spotted and chased, they fled from the spot leaving the dead animals there,” he said, adding that there was adequate evidence against them.
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