Blackbuck poaching case: Court acquits Salman Khan for submitting fake affidavit

A Jodhpur court on Monday acquitted actor Salman Khan in a case of submission of a fake affidavit in connection with the 1998 blackbuck poaching case.

His affidavit had claimed that he lost the license documents of his weapons though the license had been sent for renewal.

"Salman Khan's intention was not to submit a false affidavit or provide frivolous information on his license. Following the hearing, the court dismissed the charges against my client," the actor's lawyer Hastimal Saraswat told reporters.

Salman was on April 5, 2018, convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment after being found guilty of killing two blackbucks in Jodhpur during the shooting of his 1998 movie 'Hum Saath Saath Hain'.

However, a court later granted bail to the actor after he spent two nights at the Jodhpur Central jail.

Salman's co-stars--Saif, Sonali, Neelam and Tabu and Dushyant Singh--were acquitted due to lack of evidence.

In May, the Jodhpur bench of the Rajasthan High Court had issued fresh notices to actors Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Neelam Kothari and Tabu in the blackbuck poaching case.

The court had issued the notices to the actors following an appeal by the Rajasthan government against their acquittal by a Chief Judicial Magistrate's court on April 5 last year.

Notice was also issued to Dushyant Singh who was allegedly accompanying the actors when the poaching took place. The Jodhpur High Court had on March 11 issued notices to the five respondents on the state government's appeal challenging their acquittal in the case.