Salman hit-and-run case: Prosecution wraps up arguments, asks HC not to show any leniency

Mumbai: The prosecution today wrapped up its arguments before the Bombay High Court in the 2002 hit-and-run case, in which Bollywood superstar Salman Khan was convicted and sentenced to five-year imprisonment, and urged the court not to show any leniency to the actor. The prosecution, while concluding its arguments, asked the court to uphold the sentence awarded to him in May this year by a sessions court for ramming his car into a shop in suburban Bandra killing one person and injuring four others.

The trial court had on May 6 held Salman guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, upholding the police's case that he was drunk and was driving the car when the incident took place on September 28, 2002. Justice A R Joshi is hearing the actor's appeal against the conviction.

Public prosecutor Sandeep Shinde and Purnima Kantharia had in their arguments earlier said the actor was drunk at the time of the incident and his breath smelt of alcohol even when he was brought to the hospital for medical check-up the next day.

The prosecution had also discarded the defence theory that Salman's driver Ashok Singh was driving the car at the time of the incident and that he had lost control of the vehicle after its tyre burst. The prosecution maintained that only three persons were present in the car, Salman Khan who was driving the vehicle, his bodyguard and policeman Ravindra Patil, and the actor's friend-singer Kamaal Khan. While concluding the arguments, Shinde today cited several judgements of the Supreme Court regarding the 1999 Sanjeev Nanda case and 2005 Alistair Pereira case.