The dictation of the verdict on Salman Khan's appeal, which continued for the third day, is likely to end tomorrow when the fate of the 49-year-old actor would be decided.
Dictating its verdict in the 2002 hit-and-run case involving actor Salman Khan, the Bombay High Court today observed that prosecution had failed to prove that the actor had consumed liquor and was driving the Toyota Land Cruiser when the mishap occurred.
The dictation of the verdict on Mr Khan's appeal, which continued for the third day, is likely to end tomorrow when the fate of the 49-year-old actor would be decided.
Justice AR Joshi, who heard Mr Khan's appeal against the five-year sentence awarded to him by a sessions court, also expressed doubts over the statement of eye witness Ravindra Patil, former police bodyguard of the actor, recorded by a Magistrate, in which he had implicated the actor.
The Judge said that he (Patil) was a wholly unreliable witness because he had made improvements subsequently in his statement given to a Magistrate. In the FIR filed soon after the mishap, he did not implicate Salman but in the statement he said that Salman was driving under the influence of liquor.
The Judge also expressed a view that the prosecution should have examined Kamaal Khan, singer friend of Salman, who was with him in the car when the mishap occurred on September 28, 2002.
The court was delivering judgement on the third day in a row on an appeal filed by Salman against the five-year sentence awarded to him by a Mumbai Sessions Court on May 6.
As far as the deposition of Ashok Singh, the family driver of Salim Khan, is concerned, it was as per rules and laid down procedures of criminal law, the court said.
"....this court has come to the conclusion that the prosection has failed to bring material on record to establish beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant (Salman Khan) was driving and was under the influence of alcohol, also, whether the accident occurred due to bursting (of tyre) prior to the incident or tyre burst after the incident...," Justice Joshi remarked.
The court made these observations while dwelling upon citations of the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court in a similar case pertaining to Alister Pereira and the applicability of section 304, Part II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) under which Salman was convicted.