Prosecution recommends appeal against HC acquittal of Salman Khan

Mumbai: The prosecution in the 2002 hit-and-run case in which Bollywood actor Salman Khan was acquitted by the High Court is understood to have recommended that an appeal be filed in the Supreme court.

Sources in the prosecutor's office said the proposal with the opinion that the case was fit for appeal against the acquittal was sent today to Maharashtra Home Department. Public Prosecutor S S Shinde said his department had sent a proposal but refused to disclose its contents. "I cannot disclose any details as the winter session of the state legislature in going on," he said.

Sources said that if an appeal is filed, it would focus on the evidence of the late Ravindra Patil, an eye-witness and former police bodyguard of Salman.

The trial court had accepted Patil's statement before the magistrate which implicated the actor saying he was drunk and was driving the car when the accident took place.

However, the High Court held that Patil's statement was not admissible as evidence, which dealt a severe blow to the prosecution's case.

Salman was charged with ramming his car into a shop in suburban Bandra on September 28, 2002, killing one person and injuring four others who were sleeping outside.

On May 6, the sessions court convicted him and sentenced him to five years in jail for culpable homicide not amounting to murder; but on appeal, the High Court acquitted him.