Retracting his statement, a witness in the 2002 hit-and-run case involving Bollywood actor Salman Khan on Thursday told a court here that he had not seen the star driving the car when the incident occurred.
A key witness in the Salman Khan hit-and-run case has turned hostile. Mohammed Abdul Kaufsheikh, one of the persons allegedly injured in the accident, on Thursday said in Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate JB Pankhe’s court in Bandra that had not seen the actor driving the car.
Salman had allegedly rammed his car into five people sleeping outside a bakery on Hill Road in Bandra on September 28, 2002, killing one person and injuring four, including Kaufsheikh.
After the accident, Kaufsheikh had told the police that he was fast asleep outside a bakery when Salman’s car hit him. He had woken up in pain and had found himself lying underneath the car. He had said that he had seen Khan getting out of the driver’s seat of the car.
But in court he said he only heard people shouting that Salman Khan was in the car. He did not see the actor, he said. Kaufsheikh said he was working in A-I bakery for 11 years till 2002 and, on the day of the accident, he was sleeping on the pavement outside the bakery when a loud noise woke him up. He then realised that he was underneath a big car and had injury on his right leg.
Kaufsheikh told prosecutor Nila Pasalkar that he had heard people saying “Salman car se bahar niklo (Salman come out of the car)”. To a question during cross-examination, Kaufsheikh said he had not seen the actor as he was underneath the car and was pulled out 10 minutes after the incident.
When defence lawyer Dipesh Mehta asked him when he had given his statement to the police, he said it was after he was admitted to a hospital for treatment.
To a query from the defence lawyer, he said he had not received the compensation deposited by the actor in the Bombay High Court. In keeping with the court’s directive, the actor had deposited Rs10 lakh with the registrar of the high court to be paid as compensation to the victims. Of the four injured in the accident, two were traced and they came to the court on Thursday. However, one of them could not depose due to paucity of time. The matter has been adjourned to August 2.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}