2002 hit-and-run case: I was driving, Salman Khan’s driver Singh tells court

Mumbai: The 2002 hit-and-run case involving Bollywood star Salman Khan took an interesting turn on Monday when the actor’s family driver Ashok Singh appeared in the trial court as a defence witness, and took responsibility for the mishap that killed one person and injured four others.

Special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat, at the end of cross-examination, claimed the witness was not present in the car when the incident happened, and was given a lot of money to take responsibility.

After entering the witness box, Ashok Singh told judge D.W. Deshpande he was driving the Land Cruiser and not the actor when it met with the accident. When special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat asked why he had not told any court of this earlier, and why he had waited 13 years, the witness could not give any reason, except to say he couldn’t understand what to do.

He also said that the actor’s father Salim Khan had asked him to go before the court and tell the truth. Singh claimed that the front left tyre of the car had burst resulting in the accident.