Salman asked to appear in Jodhpur court

A local court here has ordered Bollywood superstar Salman Khan to be present in the court on March 10 to record his statement in a case related to the Arms Act.

"Prosecution evidences have finished. The court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Jodhpur district has set March 10 as date for recording of statement of the accused (Salman Khan)," Salman's counsel Hastimal Saraswat told IANS.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Dalpat Singh Rajpurohit, while dismissing an application from Salman's counsel for re-examination of the then collector Rajat Mishra, said examination of prosecution witnesses has been completed, and ordered Salman to remain present before the court on March 10 for recording of the "accused's statement".

It is the third time that Salman has been asked to record his statement during the trial inthis case.

The court was to pronounce its judgment in this case on February 25 last year, but it was deferred when a few applications for examination of four witnesses were allowed.

After examination of four witnesses, Salman appeared before the local court on April 29 last year.

On Thursday, after completing the re-examination, Salman's advocate again moved an application to examine witness Rajat Mishra, but the court did not allow this and ordered Salman to remain present before the court for recording of his statement on March 10.

Salman and his "Hum Saath-Saath Hain" co-stars, including Saif Ali Khan, were accused of poaching black bucks on the night of October 1-2, 1998, during the shooting of the Hindi movie.

Two black bucks, a protected animal under the Wildlife Protection Act, were killed on the outskirts of Kankani village near Jodhpur. Salman is accused of carrying and using illegal arms. He is also alleged to have been carrying arms with an expired license.