Black buck poaching case : Salman Khan's plea to call officials as witness rejected

Jodhpur: A court here today rejected Bollywood actor Salman Khan's plea seeking permission to produce as witness the then DCP and DM of Mumbai, in connection with a case against him under Arms Act pertaining to the expiry of the licence of arms used by him during the alleged poaching of black bucks on 1-2 October, 1998.

Khan's counsel had moved an application in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (Jodhpur District) on Tuesday stating that the licence of the arms used in the said incident had not expired then.

He had produced a notice issued by the then DCP and DM of Mumbai on September 29, 1999, which had asked Khan why his licence should not be cancelled.

The defence wanted to prove before the court that since the incident occurred in 1998, the licence of Khan's arms was well in force citing the notice by the officials in 1999, and sought to summon the then DCP and DM as witness with the relevant documents.

However, the Public Prosecutor N K Sankhla protested the plea saying the notice was meant for suspension of the licence and did not pertain to the expiry of the licence, which had expired long before the incident took place.

Admitting the arguments of the prosecution, Judge Anupama Bijlani rejected Khan's petition to summon the officers as witness.

Khan's sister Alvira had arrived in Jodhpur on Tuesday with the copy of the notice to be produced in the court and was present in the court on Wednesday during the arguments on the plea.