Salman to be jailed in poaching case

By Staff Writer

A Jodhpur court rejected the bail plea of Bollywood star Salman Khan in a 1998 poaching case on Friday, a verdict that would send the actor to jail. The actor had filed an appeal against an earlier court ruling which had sentenced him to five years of "rigorous" imprisonment
in connection with poaching of a chinkara, an endangered deer. Khan was not present in the court when the verdict was announced. It was not immediately known when he would be taken into custody.

Earlier, district and session judge KR Singvi on August 7 had adjourned the
proceedings after hearing the arguments by the counsel of Salman and the public
prosecutor. Chief Judicial Magistrate Brijendra Kumar Jain had on April 10 last
year convicted Salman in the poaching case and sentenced him to five years
imprisonment. The court had also imposed a fine of Rs. 25,000 on him. Salman
has filed the appeal against the verdict.

The case relates to the poaching of two blackbucks at Ujiyala Bhakhar near
Ghoda farm on September 28, 1998 during the shoot of Hindi feature film Hum
Saath Saath Hain. Salman has also been sentenced to one-year imprisonment in
another poaching case of bhawad and has filed an appeal against that decision
also. But the hearing has not started as the record is pending with the
Rajasthan high court where the state government filed an appeal for enhancement
of the sentence.