Salman Khan gets temporary reprieve in hit-and-run case; hearing deferred till April 8

Zeenews Bureau

Mumbai: The Mumbai Sessions court Monday postponed the hearing of Bollywood actor Salman Khan on the 2002 hit-and-run case to April 08. Salman did not appear in person before the Court as reports said he did not receive the summons.He arrived from the USA Saturday night and it was earlier reported that Salman would appear before the Court today. The case came up for the first time before the Sessions Court after a Magistrate transferred the matter to that Court by charging the 47-year-old actor with a more serious charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder`. Earlier, the Magistrate had asked Salman to appear before the Sessions Court on March 11, 2013, but he did not go to the court that day as the case was yet to be assigned to any judge. Sources said as there would be a fresh trial, evidence produced before the Magistrate`s court would not be considered and prosecution may have to adduce evidence afresh. One person was killed and four injured when a Land Cruiser, allegedly driven by Salman, ran over people sleeping on pavement outside a bakery in suburban Bandra in the wee hours of September 28, 2002. On March 08, 2013, advocate Ashok Mundargi, Salman’s lawyer, had urged the Sessions Court to hear the main case against the actor and his appeal against Magistrate’s order invoking the charge of `culpable homicide not amounting to murder’ (Section 304 part II of IPC) simultaneously. The trial before the Magistrate was proceeding on the lesser charge of ‘causing death by negligence’ (Section 304 A of Indian Penal Code), which attracts maximum punishment of two years in jail. (With PTI inputs)