Rajasthan HC rejects Salman's petition in arms case

The Rajasthan High Court on Friday rejected the petition of Bollywood actor Salman Khan, challenging a lower court's decision to allow examination of four witnesses in a case related to illegal possession and use of arms.

Justice Nirmaljit Kaur, while deciding on Salman's petition, upheld the decision of the lower court and ordered that the trial should be completed.

The examination of these four new witnesses is now expected to begin in the court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM) from Monday after being held up due to the defence having moved the high court.

The judgment in the case under the Arms Act for possession and use of arms with expired licences against the actor was to be delivered by the CJM on February 25.

But during the course of pronouncement of the judgment, four applications with a plea to call 24 witnesses and some other facts and documents related to the case moved by the then public prosecutor way back in 2006 had been found to be undecided by the court.

Prosecution counsel N.K. Sankhla had termed these nine-year-old applications important for the case and had argued in the court on February 25 that these applications needed to be decided first, which was protested by the defence.

But rejecting the arguments of defence, the court had allowed these applications partially and giving the prosecution a last chance, had ordered to call four witnesses along with the relevant material.

Salman and some other Bollywood actors, who were in Jodhpur for shooting of Hindi movie "Hum Saath Saath Hain", had on the intervening night of October 1-2, 1998, allegedly hunted two blackbucks, a protected animal under the Wildlife Protection Act, on the outskirts of Kankani village.

During this time, the Bollywood star was also accused of carrying and using illegal arms as their licences had expired.