Mumbai, July 02: Nine months after actor Salman Khan rammed his vehicle into a shop killing one person and injuring four others, he would face the trial in a sessions court today with the examination of a key witness. Principal judge A J Dholakia had summoned Salman Khan to appear before him on Tuesday in the hit-and-run case. The first witness to depose against Salman would be his former police bodyguard Ravindra Patil who had reportedly told police that he had warned the actor not to drive rashly as he was drunk and would meet with an accident. According to prosecution, having knowledge that rash and negligent act might result in death of persons was enough to prove its case against the actor. Patil's deposition may throw light on this aspect, legal sources told a news agency.
On May two, the court held Salman prima facie guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and rejected his plea to drop the charge before framing charges against him.
The actor pleaded not guilty to the charges. He had rammed his vehicle into a bakery in suburban bandra on September 28 killing one person and injuring four who were sleeping outside.
The judge held that Salman appeared to be prima facie guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder as he had the knowledge that rash and negligent driving may kill people.
Salman had opposed the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder which attracts maximum punishment of ten years in jail. He argued that the case was that of rash and negligent driving for which the maximum punishment prescribed under IPC was two years.
Salman had urged the court to drop the charge of Section 304 part two IPC, triable exclusively by a court of sessions. On other charges he did not raise any dispute.
The actor had argued that he was charged with rash and negligent driving and hence the case was triable by a magistrate and not sessions court. He said it was merely an accident case and he had no intention to kill people.

Bureau Report