Bollywood Dabang Sallu aka Salman Khan once again finds himself in the dock as three witnesses in the 2002 hit-and-run case identified him in a sessions court on Tuesday saying they had seen him getting down from the car which had almost crushed the workers sleeping on the pavement in Bandra on September 28, 2002.
The eyewitnesses were among the wounded who were run over by the car when they were sleeping on a footpath near American Express Bakery on that day.
In the re-trial after the charges of culpable homicide were added recently one witness stated he saw the actor disembarking from the front door on the right hand side, the other said he had seen Salman getting down from the driver's seat. Another witness said the actor had got down from the vehicle but did not remember from which side he got down.
One person was killed and four people were injured in the incident after which police booked Salman in this case on the charge of rash and negligent driving and other charges.
Recently, he was indicted of culpable homicide not amounting to murder which attracts a ten-year imprisonment.
The three witnesses who deposed today were Manu Khan, Mohammed Kalim Iqbal Pathan and Muslim Shaikh. All of them were workers of the Bakery which was hit by the car.
The prosecution has stressed Salman was in the state of intoxication while driving his Toyota Land Cruiser which had met with an accident on that fateful day.
In the re-trial, thus far, four witnesses have deposed. One among them is a panch witness and the other three are eye witnesses. The prosecution led by Jagannath Kenjralkar would scrutinize another three witnesses on May 19.
All the witnesses told Judge D W Deshpande that they saw the actor getting down from the car. He was held by the people who were shouting "nichey utro" (get down). Salman was held by the people but another person, who also got down from the vehicle, said he was a policeman and hence they released the actor who ran away from the spot, they said.
Sallu was in his usual cool – sporting a French beard, dressed in sapphire jeans and a full-sleeve shirt, was sitting in the lobby while his two sisters Alvira and Arpita sat on a bench in a crowded court room.
