File phot of Salman Khan.
In a major relief to Bollywood star Salman Khan, the Rajasthan High Court on Wednesday observed that pellets recovered from his hotel room did not match with those recovered from the vehicle allegedly used by him in poaching of Chinkara.
The pellets and the knife, which are the exhibits in a case of poaching in Kankani on October 1-2, 1998, were produced in the high court here for observation.
Justice Nirmal Jeet Kaur had a close look at the objects with regard to their link with the case during the hearing of a revision petition moved by Mr Khan against a sentence of five years in the poaching case of a Chinkara on September 28-29, 1998 in Mathania.
The court observed that the pellets recovered from the hotel rooms of Salman Khan and Saif Ali Khan were not only different from those said to have been recovered from the vehicle, but also of inferior quality.
Similarly about the knife, which was allegedly used by Salman khan for slitting the throat and peeling off the skin of the poached Chinkara, the court observed that it was like a pocket knife.
The judge said she wanted to have a look at the knife to see if it was big enough to be used by Mr Khan for killing the animal.
Defence counsel Mahesh Bora argued that all the pellets belonged to air guns and could not be fatal for any animal.
"The pellets recovered from Salman's room were double headed ones whereas those recovered from Saif's room were of two types (steel and led) and both of these could not be used in any fire arm," he argued.
With this, the defence completed the arguments today in the hearing stretching one hour beyond the scheduled time of the court, wherein he pointed to a series of gaps and loopholes in the police investigation.
The prosecution will now start arguments from May 10.