Would give evidence against Salman but feel unsafe, claims 'missing driver'

Harish Dulani alleged that he would have given evidence against Khan had he been assured of security.

New Delhi:

Harish Dulani, the ‘missing driver’ and one of the key witnesses in the 1998 Blackbuck shooting case involving Bollywood actor Salman Khan, said on Wednesday that he would have come forward with evidence had his family been assured of protection.

The driver of the jeep that was used by Khan and his co- stars on their alleged hunting mission had gone missing, weakening the prosecutions case against the movie star.

Khan, 50, was jailed in 2007 for nearly a week for shooting an endangered gazelle in 1998.

Speaking to NDTV, Dulani said, "My father received threats, so I got scared and moved out of a town near Jodhpur. If I had police protection, I could have given a statement. That was what I always intended."

The Rajasthan High Court on Monday acquitted actor Salman Khan in two cases of poaching, holding that the pellets recovered from the Chinkaras were not fired from Khans licensed gun.

While arguing the case in the high court, defence counsel Mahesh Bora had contended that Khan had been falsely framed in these cases, merely on the statements of a key witness Harish Dulani, the driver of the vehicle, which was allegedly used in poaching in both these cases.

Bora argued that Dulani was never available to them for cross examination and hence his statements could not be relied upon in conviction of Khan. He also argued that both of these cases have been built on circumstantial evidences and there was no eye-witness or any material evidence against Khan.