Salman Khan’s Blackbuck poaching case: Jodhpur court records statement, actor denies allegations

On Wednesday a court in Jodhpur recorded Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s statement in relation to the poaching case of blackbucks. In his statement Salman denied possessing arms in Jodhpur during the time of the incident. He said, "I had called for those arms from Mumbai to Jodhpur only after the Forest Department asked me.”

His counsel Hastimal Saraswat clarified more, "Salman, in his statement, has denied all the allegations and said he neither was carrying illegal arms nor did he poach blackbucks.” The actor also stated that the investigation officer and forest officer have raised false allegations against him. The next hearing of the case under the Arms Act will take place on March 10. To recall history, during the night of October 1 and 2, 1998, shooting of the Hindi movie Hum Saath Saath Hain was underway when two blackbucks, which is a protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act, were allegedly killed outside Kankani village near Jodhpur. Salman along with his co-stars, Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam, got accused of poaching the blackbucks. He has already served jail terms twice in connection to the case, in 1998 and again in 2007. He was also handed sentences for two and five years though appeals against them are still pending in the High Court.

Salman was accused of carrying illegal arms with expired license. Yesterday his statement couldn’t be recorded till lunch as his advocates have been trying to club the different cases for the same incident together. Saraswat said on the same, "We had requested the court to club together the different cases registered against the actor. However, the court disallowed our application and recorded the statement of Salman Khan.” Quite interestingly when Salman stepped into the court and met Chief Judicial Magistrate Chandra Kala Jain he and his fans were taken aback with the first question asked to him. The magistrate wondered, "Is this Salman Khan? Check and verify his identification.” In the meantime Salman took to Twitter to thank his fans who went to movie theatres to watch his latest film, Jai Ho. He posted, "Thank u to all the fans who have seen JAI HO n liked it , I totally appreciate it guys . U been wonderful . God bless .(sic)"