Salman Khan has gotten some major relief in the Black Buck Poaching Case on Thursday.
Rajasthan government had alleged that the Dabangg actor had submitted a ‘false affidavit’ in connection with the Arms Act.
In 1998, when Salman was arrested for hunting two blackbucks near Jodhpur, a case under the Arms Act was also registered against him. The court had demanded that he submit his arms licence. The actor had then provided an affidavit in the court in 2003, saying that he had ‘lost his arms licence’ and also lodged an FIR at the Bandra police station for the same.
However, the court later came to know that Salman’s arms licence was not lost, but had been submitted for renewal! Public prosecutor Bhavani Singh Bhati had then demanded that a case of misleading the court should be filed against Salman.
In 2018, Salman was sentenced to 5-years jail in the blackbuck poaching case but the actor challenged this verdict in the Jodhpur Sessions court. On Tuesday, Salman had appeared before the court via video conferencing – to appeal against his conviction. He had apologised for ‘mistakenly submitting’ false affidavit; saying he’d forgotten that his arms license was not lost but given for renewal.
His lawyer Hastimal Saraswat had told the court – “The affidavit was mistakenly given on August 8, 2003, as Salman had forgotten that his licence was given for renewal because he was too busy. Therefore, he mentioned that the licence had gone missing in the court.”
On Thursday, the Jodhpur Sessions Court ruled in Salman’s favour as it dismissed the State Government plea alleging that Salman Khan had presented false affidavit in connection with Arms Act. The Centre’s plea had earlier been dismissed by the lower court as well.
