Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has been convicted in 1998 blackbuck poaching case by a Jodhpur court today. Other actors,Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam Kothari, however, have been acquitted.
The quantum of punishment will be announced later. Salman Khan was accused of killing two blackbucks in Bhagoda ki Dhani in Kankani village near Jodhpur on the intervening night of October 1-2, 1998. This happened during the shooting of bollwood movie Hum Saath Saath Hain. The actor has been convicted under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, which carries maximum punishment of six years and minimum one-year jail term.What is interesting is the court termed Salman as the ‘habitual offender’.
Later, in the afternoon, the court has sentenced Salman to five-year jail term with a fine of Rs 10,000. He was immediately taken to Jodhpur Central Jail in a white jeep. The jail, however, is not new to the Bollywood star as he had already spent five nights there in 2006. The jail authorities told media, the barrack No.2 is allotted to him where will not be the only celebrity. He will be in the company of Asaram Bapu, an influential spiritual guru, who was also sentenced to five-year term for raping a school girl in his ashram in 2013.