Salman Khan hit-and-run: Defence claimed Ashok Singh was driving vehicle, says petitioner

Senior advocate Abha Singh, who is a petitioner in the Salman Khan hit-and-run case, on Friday said that the defence counsel has repeatedly claimed before the Bombay High Court bench that the Bollywood actor's driver Ashok Singh was driving the vehicle at the time of the incident.

"The defence kept saying that there were four people in the vehicle and the fourth person - Ashok Singh - was driving the vehicle. They tried to support their claim by saying that the Investigating Officer

had interrogated Ashok Singh but did not record his statement. So they were trying to prove that it was Ashok Singh who was driving the fatal vehicle," Abha Singh told the media.

"Salman Khan's sentence has been suspended but now he has to go to the Sessions Court and has to surrender his bond and sign a fresh bond of Rs 30,000," she added.

Abha Singh further told the media that the Bombay High Court raised asked the prosecution why the statement of Kamaal Khan, who was also present at the time of the incident, was not brought in.

Earlier in the day, The Bombay High Court on Friday suspended Salman's five year sentence in the case. With this ruling, the Dabangg star will not be taken to jail. However, he will first have to go to the

Sessions Court in order to execute a fresh bail bond because his two-day interim bail ends today.

On Wednesday, a Mumbai Sessions Court found Salman guilty of culpable homicide and sentenced him to five years imprisonment in connection with the 2002 hit-and-run case, where he ran over a homeless person and injured four others.

However, the Bombay High Court granted him a two-day interim bail for the same.