JODHPUR: The poaching of endangered black bucks came back to haunt the mightiest in Bollywood on Monday, with a Jodhpur court reframing charges against actors Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre.
All the five stars were present when the Jodhpur court read out the formal charges against them for killing two black bucks in nearby Kankani village on the intervening night of October 1-2, 1998, during the shooting of Sooraj Barjatya's blockbuster Hum Saath Saath Hain. The next hearing for the case has been fixed for July 3, Salman's counsel Hastimal Saraswat said.
While Salman has been charged under Section 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act for hunting a protected species, the other stars have been charged for abetment under Section 52 of the act.
If found guilty, the stars could face a penalty of one-six years in prison and a fine of up to Rs25,000. The court reframed the charges against the stars as per the order of the additional district sessions court, which while allowing the revision petition had ordered dropping of the sections relating to the Indian Penal Code on May 4.
Salman has earlier been convicted in two cases relating to poaching of chinkaras. On February 17, a judge of a lower court in Jodhpur had sentenced the actor to a year in jail for killing a chinkara in Bhavad village of the district in September 1998.
Again, on April 10, he was sentenced to five years in jail for killing a chinkara in Ghoda farms near Jodhpur on September 28, 1998. In this case, the Bollywood actor had to spend three nights in a Jodhpur jail before being released on bail.
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