In an appeal filed by Bollywood actor Salman Khan against his five-year sentence in the 2002 hit-and-run case, his lawyer told the Bombay High Court that the prosecution had failed to examine eye-witness Kamaal Khan though he had appeared thrice before a trial court.

“If Kamaal Khan is put in the box, the entire evidence of police bodyguard late Ravindra Patil would be thrown away as he would demolish the prosecution case,” senior defence counsel Amit Desai argued before Justice A R Joshi who is presiding over the hearing of Salman’s appeal.

Kamaal Khan, a singer, is Salman’s family friend and was accompanying the actor on September 28, 2012 when they started from Galaxy Apartments at Bandra and went to Rain Bar at Vile Parle. After that, they went to J W Marriott hotel at Juhu-Tara Road. On returning home, Salman’s car had rammed into a shop in Bandra. One person was killed in the mishap and four others were injured.

Desai argued that the prosecution had not examined Kamaal Khan during the trials in Magistrate’s court and sessions court earlier and now in the Bombay High Court it had opposed Salman’s plea to place the testimony of this crucial witness.

“That is because if Kamaal is examined, truth would emerge as this witness would throw light on who was driving the car and hence the evidence of Ravindra Patil would have to be discarded,” Desai said.

Interestingly, both the sides agree that Kamaal Khan was in the car. Moreover, when Salman’s statement was recorded under section 313 of Cr.Pc after the trial, the actor had said that he was not driving the car, Desai said.

Besides, defence witness and Salman’s driver Ashok Singh had told the court that he was driving the car…The other witness (Ravindra Patil) has passed away…In that case, Kamaal’s statement is very important, Salman’s lawyer argued.

In another development, Public prosecutor and government pleader Sandeep Shinde submitted that there was no need to examine Kamaal Khan as a witness at this stage.

“We have proved our case beyond reasonable doubt and the appellant (Salman) was convicted by a Mumbai sessions court,” Shinde told the high court.

He also said that at this stage “adverse inference” can- not be drawn since Kamaal Khan had not been examined earlier by a magistrate’s court at Bandra and a Mumbai sessions court.

Desai hit out at the prosecution for saying that Kamaal was not available to them for 13 years in this case as a witness as he had gone abroad.

A petition has been filed in a Pune court seeking a ban on Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s upcoming film “Bajirao Mastani”, alleging that it has distorted history relating to late king Shrimant Bajirao Peshwe and his family members.

The case will come up for hearing on November 26 before Pune Metropolitan Magistrate S S Bhule, according to advocate Wajid Khan, who appeared on behalf of Hemant Patil, president of NGO- Bharat against Corruption, who has filed the plea.

The petition, filed yesterday, alleged that historical facts had been wrongly portrayed in the film while showing late king Bajirao Peshwe and his wives Kashibai and Mastani. The “Pinga” song in the film shows leading heroines Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone dancing together, which, the petitioner said “distorts” history.

‘Pinga’ dance is an integral part of Marathi culture and has been portrayed as an ‘item song’ in the film, the petition alleged. Besides Bhansali, Chopra and Padukone have been named as respondents. The court will hear the sides on November 26 to decide on issuing notices to the respondents.

The Magistrate has allowed the petitioner’s plea on the point of jurisdiction of the Magistrate court in Pune to hear the matter, said Wajid Khan. Earlier, Prasadrao Peshwe, the descendant of Bajirao Peshwa I, had also alleged that historical facts have been “altered” while portraying the late king and his wives in the film.

In a letter written to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis yesterday, Prasadrao has demanded that the government look into the matter, review the soon-to-be-released film, investigate the matter and take a decision accordingly. The film is set for release on December 18.

Social activist Anna Hazare expressed his disappointment on the warm embrace his former protege Arvind Kejriwal and Lalu Prasad shared on stage on the sidelines of the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s oath ceremony in Patna on Friday.

“It’s good that I left Arvind’s company, or else I would also be facing a similar predicament,” Hazare said.

“Shaking hands with Lalu and hugging him is not okay,” Hazare told reporters at his native village Ralegan Siddhi in Ahmednagar district.

Hazare’s comments came even as Kejriwal sought to clear the air on the Lalu hug that has become a much discussed topic in the country.

Yadav, Kejriwal claimed, was the sole author of the warm embrace the two leaders shared.

“He shook my hand and pulled me into a hug and then he held my hand and raised it,” said the Delhi chief minister, adding, “It was projected and questions were asked.”

Photographs of the two leaders went viral on social media and a Kejriwal tweet from two years ago was dug up to remind the former anti-corruption activist of his stand on Lalu Yadav when the latter was convicted in a corruption case.

The hug earned Kejriwal criticism not only on social media but also from political rivals, including former AAP colleague Yogendra Yadav who said, “Political capital of the movement sold to symbols of political corruption.

Former media baron Peter Mukerjea is being evasive during his interrogation by CBI team here which grilled him for several hours on Tuesday after he was shifted from Mumbai in connection with the murder case of his step-daughter Sheena Bora.

The sources said the agency might subject Peter to scientific tests but for doing that it will need his consent, adding he has been changing his statements on financial dealings related to INX media, in which he and Indrani were partners, throughout the four sessions of questioning.

They said Peter is facing probe under the ongoing case of Sheena Bora murder and specific charges against him will be slapped, if needed, at the time of filing supplementary charge sheet.

The sources remained silent on the reasons for shifting him here from Mumbai but said this is not the first time that an accused has been shifted as it has happened in the case of Madhumita Shukla murder and Ajit Sarkar murder case in which musclemen-turned politicians Amarmani Tripathi and Pappu Yadav were accused respectively.

They clarified that the move was triggered by the need for investigation and in no way casts any aspersion on local police or CBI team probing the matter.

Although CBI is tightlipped on the matter but speculation is rife that agency may carry out a lie-detection and brain mapping test on Peter which is available at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory.

Another reason being talked about in the CBI corridors is the independent style of working of the DIG handling the case, they said.

Mumbai also has a small scientific aid unit of CBI which also carries out polygraph test but it is not elaborate in terms of facilities available.

Sheena (24) was Indrani’s daughter from an earlier marriage who was allegedly killed by her mother, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and her former driver Shyamvar Rai in April 2012.

Peter was arrested on November 19 and granted CBI custody till November 26 by the special court in Mumbai.

Sheena Bora died due to asphyxia as a result of strangulation, according to a medical report that is part of the CBI chargesheet in the sensational murder case in which her mother Indrani Mukerjea is the key accused.

The report was prepared by a five-member medical board formed by the Government-run All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) based in New Delhi.

“Death in this case is due to asphyxia as a result of strangulation by the way of ligature or manual cannot be ruled out,” said the report.

The report also said the human skeleton, sent for examination and believed to be of Sheena’s, was of a female aged about 23. It put the time of death at about three years ago.

These details broadly matched with Sheena, who was aged 24 at the time of her murder in April 2012.

The report maintained that the body was recovered from a remote place and was suggestive of discrete disposal of corpse and concealment of prime evidence (body).

“The deceased had skeletal burns (burning of bones) which is only feasible in the case of deep burns. It is observed that there were pan-body burns over skeleton, which suggests the extent of burns were massive and intention was to destroy the whole body to conceal the prime evidence of death investigation.”

Sheena was allegedly strangled in a car and then her body was burnt and dumped in a forest in Raigad, about 84 km from Mumbai.

Indrani (43), her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and her ex-driver Shyamvar Rai have been chargesheeted in the murder case. The victim was Indrani’s daughter from an earlier marriage.

Former media baron Peter Mukerjea, husband of Indrani, was arrested last week for his alleged role in the murder. He is currently in CBI custody.

The Bombay High Court sought to know from Maharashtra Government what action it proposes to take against principals or trustees of schools across the state for not implementing recommendations of an expert committee on reducing weight of school bags and other issues concerning students.

A bench headed by justices V M Kanade and Reveti Mohite-Dere asked the State to file an affidavit by December 17 on the action proposed to be taken against school heads.

The Government had informed last week that it had issued a circular in schools across the State, fixing responsibility on trustees and principals for implementing recommendations of the expert committee on weight reduction of school bags.

The circular, issued on November 5, also mentions that the recommendations must be implemented by the schools by November end, according to Government pleader Anjali Helekar.

The judges were hearing a PIL filed by social activist Swati Patil on rising weight of school bags and its adverse impact on the health of children.

The petitioner sought to know whether the State had planned any action against the heads of schools who do not implement the GR on weight of school bags.

Thereupon, the HC asked the State to state its stand on the issue within three weeks (by December 17).

Soon after the petition was filed, Government had appointed a committee which submitted several recommendations.

As per the panel’s report, students are lugging school bags 20-30 per cent heavier than what children of their age should carry. Because of this, around 60 per cent students below the age of 10 suffer from orthopaedic as well as stress- induced ailments.

The committee recommended that one book should be used for three months for each subject and the textbook weight can be reduced by using less weight paper and no hardcover.

Further, it suggested use of e-classroom, audio-visual technology and other modern means for teaching.

The Government had earlier issued a circular on July 21 on implementation of recommendations made by the committee.

However, it was silent on who would be responsible for implementation of the suggestions given by the panel.

The High Court then asked the State Government to fix responsibility on some officer or person for implementing the suggested measures.

The State had last week informed that the school principals and trustees of the schools had been made responsible for implementation of the recommendations.

According to the Government, there are about 1.06 lakh schools in Maharashtra.

Three persons including a 50-year-old police constable were injured after a ceiling of a flat in a building collapsed here police said.

The incident took place this afternoon at a wing of a building situated in police colony at Maratrao Kannavamvar Nagar in Vikhroli, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detection) Dhananjay Kulkarni said.

Vinod Nandgaonkar, presently on deputation with National Investigation Agency, his wife and son sustained injuries, Kulkarni said.

The victims are admitted at the Mahatma Phule hospital and their condition is out of danger, police said.

Observer Research Foundation Chairman Sudheendra Kulkarni has written a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, suggesting that the state should join the international community in commemorating the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s ‘General Theory of Relativity’.

The Maharashtra government should erect a memorial in honour of Albert Einstein in Mumbai, Kulkarni said.

“One hundred years ago this month on November 25, 1915 – Einstein presented his General Theory of Relativity to the world. Among other things, this theory explains the force of gravity in terms of warping of space and time,” he said.

“It has given a framework to describe the cosmos and exotic objects like black holes and gravity waves for the first time. It is also the reason why the Global Positioning System (GPS) is used for navigation works! This revolutionary milestone in physics is being commemorated all over the world,” he said.

The Chief Minister should initiate naming a prominent road or a square in Mumbai after Einstein, and an installation of a befitting statue, Kulkarni said.

“Although Einstein is a household name in India, it is sad to note that Mumbai has done nothing to honour his memory publicly. Indeed, Mumbai lags far behind other international cities (including Delhi) in commemorating prominent global personalities in science, arts, culture, literature and politics,” he said.

The state government should make an appeal to every school, college and university in Maharashtra to commemorate the centenary of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, he said.