The hearing in the 2002 hit-and-run case involving actor Salman Khan continued at a Mumbai sessions court on Saturday with the cross examination of Dr Shashikant Pawar, the doctor who had collected the actor's blood samples at a state-run hospital on the night of the accident.
The defence counsel questioned the doctor further on the procedures followed while collecting blood samples. During his cross examination the doctor told the court, "Once the labels are stuck the samples in the vial are not visible. It was not mentioned which vial had oxalate (preservative) and which vial had plain sample. I cannot say as to which label was wrapped on the vial having oxalate."
Dr Pawar also added, "There is no entry recorded by me that a sealed envelope was given to constable containing form A and B and the vials. There is no record in the EPR register that the samples were handed over to a constable and his acknowledgement was taken. My original signature is not there in the front page of case papers."
"I had signed on the reverse of the envelope and put a stamp on the back of the envelope. The places where the envelope may be opened were sealed. It is possible that bandage strip can be pasted and opened from the sealed sample," the doctor added in reply to a specific question on whether the sealed envelope could be opened."
The case has now been adjourned to February 12. The Chemical Analysis Expert, Bala Shankar will be examined on that day. He had testified in court on December 3 last year and told the court that he found traces of alcohol in the blood sample he was asked to analyse after the hit-and-run incident. He told the court that he had found 62 mg of ethyl alcohol in the blood sample of 100 ml. He also said that 30 mg of ethyl alcohol is the amount normally found but can increase to 45 mg because of medical treatment.
The prosecution has been allowed by the court to introduce three new witnesses which include a Regional Transport Authority (RTO) officer who will testify on whether Salman had a valid driving licence on him or not, since the actor has also been charged for offences under the Motor Vehicles Act. The other two witnesses are the police constable who carried blood samples from Bandra Police Station to the Forensic Sciences Laboratory and the constable who accompanied Salman Khan to the state-run JJ hospital where his blood samples were collected. The statements of these witnesses have to be given to the Defence and the court by February 10, 2015.
One person was killed and four others were injured when a car, allegedly driven by the actor, rammed into a bakery in suburban Bandra in Mumbai on September 28, 2002. Mr Khan is being tried for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. If convicted, he could spend up to 10 years in prison.
