Salman Khan acquitted by Jodhpur court in illegal firearms case

The actor was accused of possessing illegal firearms with an expired arms licence

In a big relief to Salman Khan and Hindi film industry, a Jodhpur court acquitted the actor in an Arms Act case today. He had been accused of possessing illegal firearms with an expired licence.

The arguments from both sides had concluded earlier and the court had reserved its judgement on January 9. Chief judicial magistrate Dalpat Singh Rajpurohit had directed the accused, Salman Khan to be present in the court when the judgement is announced.

Salman Khan was accused of carrying and using illegal firearms with an expired licence. His arms licence had expired on Sep 22, 1998 and he was accused of using them to hunt two blackbucks on October 1 and 2, 1998 near Jodhpur.

These firearms were presented to the police in Jodhpur on 15 Oct, 1998. The defence claimed that these were brought from Mumbai but he was required to prove that these were not in his possession between 22 September 1998 and 15 October, 1998.

In between these two dates, on 29 September, 1998, the actor had complained that his revolver had been stolen. The Jodhpur police officer Satyamani Tiwari found the revolver in the bathroom of his hotel room. The actor was accused under sections 3/25 and 3/27 of the Arms Act that carried a maximum sentence of 7 years in jail.

The actor had been embroiled in three cases in 1998. These were related to poaching chinkaras, poaching blackbucks and under the Arms Act. In July, 2016, the Rajasthan High Court had acquitted him in the chinkara poaching case.