Salman is accused of hunting an endangered deer while shooting his film Hum Saath Saath Hain in Rajasthan in 1998
New Delhi:
Actor Salman Khan will appear before a Jodhpur court today to record his statement in an Arms Act case in which he is accused of poaching the endangered chinkara deer.
Mr Khan's appeal that this case be clubbed with a separate blackbuck poaching case which is still under trial has been rejected by the court.
In January, Mr Khan told the court that he had no arms with him in Jodhpur and they were in Mumbai. "I had called for those arms from Mumbai to Jodhpur only after the Forest Department asked me," he said. The actor also told the court that he was not guilty of poaching and that the investigation and forest officers had fabricated a case against him.
Mr Khan is accused of hunting and killing the endangered chinkara and blackbuck while shooting his film Hum Saath Saath Hain in Rajasthan in 1998. He has already twice spent time in the Jodhpur jail, in 1998 and again in 2007 and has been handed sentences of two and five years , appeals against which are pending in the High Court .
Mr Khan's rifle and revolver were seized by the court when he was first accused of poaching and their licences were found to have expired. Mr Khan's Hum Saath Saath Hain co-stars - Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam - are charged with inciting the actor to hunt.
In November last year, the Rajasthan High Court ordered that Salman Khan's poaching conviction be suspended for visa purposes to make it easier for the actor, who had been denied an UK visa to shoot his film Kick, to travel abroad.
Mr Khan's appeal that this case be clubbed with a separate blackbuck poaching case which is still under trial has been rejected by the court.
In January, Mr Khan told the court that he had no arms with him in Jodhpur and they were in Mumbai. "I had called for those arms from Mumbai to Jodhpur only after the Forest Department asked me," he said. The actor also told the court that he was not guilty of poaching and that the investigation and forest officers had fabricated a case against him.
Mr Khan is accused of hunting and killing the endangered chinkara and blackbuck while shooting his film Hum Saath Saath Hain in Rajasthan in 1998. He has already twice spent time in the Jodhpur jail, in 1998 and again in 2007 and has been handed sentences of two and five years , appeals against which are pending in the High Court .
Mr Khan's rifle and revolver were seized by the court when he was first accused of poaching and their licences were found to have expired. Mr Khan's Hum Saath Saath Hain co-stars - Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam - are charged with inciting the actor to hunt.
In November last year, the Rajasthan High Court ordered that Salman Khan's poaching conviction be suspended for visa purposes to make it easier for the actor, who had been denied an UK visa to shoot his film Kick, to travel abroad.
