Salman Khan asked to appear in Jodhpur court in blackbuck poaching case on March 7

Bollywood actor Salman Khan has been summoned by a Jodhpur court to appear before it on March 7 in connection with the 1998 blackbuck poaching case.

Hearing an appeal filed by Salman, District and Sessions Judge Chandra Kumar Songara said the actor has not appeared before the court for the last two years. "Where is the accused? the court asked.

To this, Salman's counsel Hastimal Saraswat said that the actor will appear before the court whenever he is summoned.

On April 5 last year, Khan was 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, the court granted him bail after he spent two nights at the Jodhpur jail.

His co-stars -- Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Neelam Kothari and Tabu -- besides another accused Dushyant Singh were acquitted due to lack of evidence.

In May this year, the Jodhpur bench of the Rajasthan High Court had issued fresh notices to the five actors following an appeal by the Rajasthan government against their acquittal by a chief judicial magistrate's court.

Notice was also issued to Dushyant Singh who was allegedly accompanying the actors when the poaching took place.