JAIPUR: The Jodhpur District and Sessions Court on Thursday let off actor Salman Khan in a case related to submitting a false affidavit in court.
The court dismissed a plea filed by the Rajasthan government against the actor for allegedly submitting a false affidavit in the Jodhpur session court in 2003, during his hearing in a case related to the poaching of two blackbucks in Jodhpur in 1998.
Salman was present through video conferencing as the court delivered its verdict. In the final hearing two days ago, Salman’s lawyers had apologised for 'mistakenly' submitting a false affidavit in the Jodhpur session court in 2003. They had pleaded that the actor be forgiven as he had submitted a wrong affidavit not deliberately but because of his busy schedule which led to oversight and the submission of the wrong affidavit.
After the verdict, the actor's lawyer, Hastimal Saraswat said, "Jodhpur District and Sessions Court dismissed both the pleas of the State Government in a detailed order. We had replied in 2006 that no false affidavits were presented and such pleas are being furnished only to disturb Salman Khan."
The Rajasthan government had in 2006 submitted a plea accusing Khan of submitting a fake affidavit. In 1998, Khan was booked in four different cases of poaching black bucks and chinkaras during the shooting of the film 'Hum Saath Saath Hain'. In one of those cases, he was booked under the Arms Act. During the hearing of this case, he was asked to submit his arms licence.
The state government made the accusation after the actor submitted an affidavit in court claiming that he had lost his weapon's licence, when it had actually gone for renewal. The prosecution had asked the court to take action against Khan under Section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in 2006. Public prosecutor Bhavani Singh Bhati had then demanded that a case of misleading the court should be filed against the actor.
The verdict comes as a major relief for Khan as he could have faced a jail term of upto seven years had he been pronounced guilty in the case.