Salman case: court asks police to record statements of RTO

The sessions court today directed the Mumbai police to record the statements of three additional witnesses in connection with the 2002 hit-and-run case allegedly involving Bollywood superstar Salman Khan.
"The court directed the police to record the statements of a Road Transport Office inspector and two police constables," said special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat.
The prosecution had sought permission from the court to examine these three witnesses, though their statements are not a part of the charge sheet.
According to the prosecution, the RTO inspector needs to be examined to establish if Khan had a valid licence on the day of the incident.

One of the police constables had accompanied the actor from Bandra police station to a hospital for medical tests while another had taken the blood sample from the hospital to a chemical analyser's office.
However, the judge D W Deshpande said their statements should be recorded by the police first and the copies should be given to the court and Khan's lawyer before February 10, following which the court would decide if they should be examined as witnesses.

"Prosecution's application will be decided on merit after going through the statements," said the judge.
Meanwhile, the court today discharged Dr Shashikant Pawar, who was with the government-run J J Hospital and who had examined Khan after the mishap as the defence complected his cross-examination.

Khan's lawyer today claimed that the blood samples of the actor were not sealed. But Dr Pawar denied it.
Khan's car had rammed into a roadside shop in suburban Bandra, killing one person and injuring four people who were sleeping on the pavement on the night of September 28, 2002.
He is facing the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, which attracts maximum of ten years in jail.