State may appeal Salman Khan verdict

The Bombay high court’s decision to acquit Bollywood superstar Salman Khan in the 2002 hit-and-run case of all charges may be appealed in the Supreme Court after the prosecutor’s office sent its recommendation to the Maharashtra home department that the case was fit for appeal.

The prosecutor’s office while confirming sending a recommendation to the home department, refused to divulge the grounds on which the appeal could be filed.

Public prosecutor S.S. Shinde while confirming the development said his department had sent the proposal but refrained from sharing details as the Winter Session of the state Legislature was in progress. However, sources from the prosecutor’s office indicated that the appeal would focus on the statements of Khan’s former police bodyguard Ravindra Patil who was present in the car when the accident, killing one person and injuring four persons sleeping on the road, occurred on September 28, 2002.

Khan had appealed in the high court against the May 6 decision of the trial court, which had convicted him for culpable homicide not amounting to murder based on Patil’s evidence and sentenced him to five years in prison. The high court bench of Justice A.R. Joshi had, however, refused to admit Patil’s statement as evidence and acquitted Khan on the grounds that the prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the actor was at the wheel and drunk at the time of the accident.

After the acquittal of Khan, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had said that the state would study the decision of the high court and decide on whether it could be appealed in the Supreme Court. Sources in the prosecution office said that after studying the decision in detail it was decided the decision could be appealed against in the Supreme Court.