Salman Khan released from jail after getting bail in poaching case

Bollywood actor Salman Khan was today released from the Jodhpur jail after being granted bail by a district and sessions court here in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case in which he was sentenced to five years in jail.

Immediately after his release, Khan, 52, was driven under police escort to the airport here, a police official said.

Khan walked out of the jail after the prison authorities received the court papers granting him bail, the official said.

Earlier, district and Sessions Judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi allowed Khan's plea for bail and suspension of sentence for a month to allow him to appeal against his conviction and sentence.

Khan, who had spent two nights in the Jodhpur Central Jail after his sentencing on Thursday, was granted bail on a bond of Rs 50,000 and two sureties of like amount, Defence counsel Mahesh Bora said.

Earlier in the day, the judge heard the arguments of prosecution and defence which lasted for about an hour and pronounced the order at around 3 pm, a defence counsel said.

Khan's sisters - Alvira and Arpita - were present during the hearing.

The actor was convicted by a trial court and sentenced to five years in prison for killing two blackbucks during the shooting of "Hum Saath Saath Hain" here.

In a late night development, an order was issued to transfer Joshi to Sirohi, as part of a reshuffle. He was among 134 judges transferred by the registrar general of the Rajasthan High Court.