Rajasthan Police team being sent to nab Salman

JODHPUR: A police team will set off from here for Mumbai on Saturday to arrest actor Salman Khan, for whom a non-bailable arrest warrant was issued on Friday after a court dismissed his appeal against a five-year jail term in a poaching case.

A five-member team was formed to execute the warrant and produce the star in the chief judicial magistrate's court that convicted him last year, Superintendent of Police Hawa Singh Ghumaria said.

"We got the NBW issued by the magistrate's court this evening and the police team will be despatched to Mumbai to arrest Salman by the first available train on Saturday afternoon," he said.

The team will bring Salman back to Jodhpur by train and no special facilities will be provided to him en route.

Ghumaria said there was no provision in police rules for the team to bring the actor back by air. "But to provide better security to the celebrity, police are sending a five-member team to Mumbai," he said.

Ghumaria said police here had also asked their counterparts in Mumbai for assistance.

If Salman is arrested on Sunday, he will be produced in the court on Monday and then sent to jail, officials said.

The magistrate's court issued the warrant after the district and sessions court upheld the five-year jail term for Salman while dismissing his appeal against his conviction for poaching an endangered chinkara near Ghoda Farm in Jodhpur district during the shooting of the movie 'Hum Saath Saath Hein' in 1998.

Salman was not in the court when his appeal was rejected.