MUMBAI, Aug 27:
Police today claimed that evidences in Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s hit-and-run case are strong enough to get him convicted.
The claim was made to mediapersons by a police official today after the police yesterday said that it has successfully recovered all missing documents in the case. Confirming recovery of the missing documents, Joint Commissioner of Police Dhananjay Kamalakar (law and order) said, ‘all the case papers which were misplaced have been found and we will present it in court in the next hearing. We are investigating to find out how the papers were misplaced and who is responsible for this mess.’
It may be recalled that a week ago in a court hearing on August 20, police had stated that, the original papers were kept in a magistrate’s court where the trial was being held since 2001.
However, most of the original statements of the witnesses and case diaries could not be traced after the trial was shifted to the Sessions Court in 2013.
The Sessions Court in south Mumbai had then directed the police to locate the documents by September 12, and ordered the Investigating Officer (IO) to be present in court in the next hearing. It also asked for an affidavit to be filed regarding the missing case diaries and witness statements.
Earlier, the police had told the court that only seven of the 63 original witness statements were traceable, although true copies
were available.
Salman’s lawyer Srikant Shivade had contended that, as per the law, the original papers were required to be produced before the court for the trial to proceed, while the prosecution argued that, in accordance with the established practice in Mumbai courts, the trial could go on with the true copies. Sessions judge DW Deshpande had asked police to inform the court about their line of action at the next hearing. It would then verify what documents the prosecution and defence had, and whether it will be appropriate to proceed with the trial based on that.
A fresh trial was ordered against the 48-year-old actor under ‘culpable homicide not amounting to murder’ with a maximum sentence of 10-year imprisonment, due to which the evidence and witnesses are in the process of being re-examined. So far, 11 witnesses have been examined, of which one has turned hostile. Salman is accused of driving his SUV onto a pavement in Bandra, on September 28, 2002, leading to the death of one person and injuring four others.
(UNI)
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