SALMAN KHAN: GUILTY AS CHARGED!

In a huge setback to Bollywood Superstar Salman Khan has been held guilty by a Mumbai Sessions Court of killing a man in a 2002 hit-and-run crash case. Charges he has been found guilty of include, culpable homicide not amounting to murder, driving under the influence of alcohol and not possessing a licence. The sentencing is awaited.

The Judge, reading out the verdict said that Salman Khan himself was driving the car that smashed into the six people, killing one and injuring the rest. The Judge also said that Khan was under the influence of alcohol when the incident occurred. Khan is now looking at a minimum jail term of 4 years and a maximum of 10 years.

The defence counsel of Salman Khan now get the chance to plead for leniency at the court seeking a lower jail term. They also have the chance of requesting the court to consider the statement of Khan’s driver that was earlier not admitted as an evidence by the court. If the court does agree to admit this new evidence, there is a possibility of some of his charges being struck down, or even facing a lighter jail term. Salman Khan also has the chance of now appealing to higher courts, the first would be at the Bombay High Court. Khan is accused of driving his SUV into a group of homeless people sleeping near a Mumbai bakery, killing one of them.

A string of prosecution witnesses, including survivors of the crash, have testified that Khan was at the wheel when his vehicle crashed at speed into a group of half a dozen men sleeping on the street in September 2002.
The trial began in earnest last year after a series of court hearings and legal hold-ups.

When Khan finally took the stand, he pleaded not guilty and told the court that his driver was responsible for mounting the pavement in Bandra West.

A constable attached to Khan's security detail said in his statement to police that the drunk actor lost control of the car while driving at about 90 kilometres (55 miles) an hour.

"The people were sleeping on the footpath. Salman and (his cousin) Kamaal ran away from the spot," the constable, who died in 2007 of tuberculosis, had said.
One of the sleeping labourers injured in the accident said in his statement that "Salman was so drunk that he fell. He stood but he fell again and then he... ran away."

But Khan's lawyers said the actor had in fact been drinking water all evening and had climbed out of the driver's seat after the accident because the passenger side door had been damaged.

They also said that the victim, Nurulah Mahbob Sharif, was killed during an operation to move the car, rather than the crash itself, when the bumper fell off and landed on him.
Finally, last month, his driver took the stand and said he crashed after the front left tyre burst, making steering and braking difficult.

The verdict is being awaited with baited breath, both by his fans and Bollywood studios who stand to lose millions if they have to cancel filming movies he has been signed up to.

One report by PTI said that more than $31 million was riding on the verdict.