By IANS
Jodhpur : Bollywood actor Salman Khan will be personally present here when a local court announces its verdict Friday in the chinkara deer poaching case involving him.
Salman Khan had filed an appeal in the district and sessions court here last year against the judgement of the chief judicial magistrate’s court on April 10, 2006 that sentenced him to five years of rigorous imprisonment for poaching chinkara, an endangered species of deer. He was also fined Rs.25,000.
After the sentence, the star was taken to Jodhpur central jail where he had to spend three nights before the district and sessions court gave him bail.
Salman is expected to arrive in Jodhpur late Thursday, sources close to his family said.
“We have put our arguments in front of the court in which we have mentioned that the forensic report of the animal does not prove it to be a chinkara and moreover if four others can be freed by the court for lack of evidence, how can Salman alone be found guilty,” Hastimal Saraswat, the actor’s lawyer told IANS.
“Now it is for the court to give the judgement. We strongly feel our client is not guilty,” Saraswat said.
A case was registered against Salman and five others on Oct 11, 1998 for allegedly poaching a chinkara deer in Ghoda near here during the shooting of Sooraj Barjatiya’s “Hum Saath Saath Hain”.
Meanwhile, the district court here has asked for a complete ban on the entry of cameramen in the court premises on Friday.
“We have got a directive asking for a ban on the entry of photographers including television guys as they disrupt the proceedings of the court. We would stop entry of the photographers,” said Om Prakash, additional superintendent of police, Jodhpur city.