2002 hit-and-run-case: Was neither drunk, nor behind the wheels, Salman tells SC

2002 hit-and-run-case: Was neither drunk, nor behind the wheels, Salman tells SC
2002 hit-and-run-case: Was neither drunk, nor behind the wheels, Salman tells SC

NEW DELHI: Challenging the decision of Maharashtra government, which had filed an appeal against his acquittal in the 2002 hit-and-run case, Bollywood actor Salman Khan today filed a reply in the Supreme Court, saying that neither he was driving the car, nor was he drunk at the time of the accident. In his response submitted to the Apex Court, Salman claimed his driver Ashok Singh was at the wheel.

He also said that he was falsely implicated by the state police in the case.  The actor said Ashok had called the police control room after the accident and even went to the police station to record his statement. He alleged that police refused to record Ashok’s statement, saying that they were under pressure to arrest the actor. ”I am innocent in the case,” he pleaded before the court.

According to Salman, there were two other people in the car besides his bodyguard Ravindra Patil and himself – his driver Ashok and singer Kamaal Khan, whose testimony was never recorded by the police.

Even when the case came to the Bombay High Court, the prosecution falsely claimed that Kamaal Khan did not respond to the summons, Salman further alleged. The actor said the summons were issued on a wrong address to the singer.

On September 28, 2002, Shaikh Noorulla Shafik was killed on the spot and four others were seriously injured, when the 50-year-old actor’s Land Cruiser crashed into the men sleeping on a pavement outside a bakery in Bandra. On May 6, 2015, a Mumbai Sessions Court found Salman guilty of various charges, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder , of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).