Prosecution today sought conviction of Bollywood superstar Salman Khan on the charge of culpable homicide in the 2002 hit-and-run case in which he has been accused of ramming his car into a shop killing one person and injuring four others who were sleeping outside.
Khan was under the influence of liquor and was driving without a licence….Therefore, he had knowledge and intention that his rash and negligent act might cause a serious mishap and result in death of people, Public Prosecutor Pradeep Gharat argued in the court of Sessions Judge D W Deshpande.
The charge of culpable homicide attracts punishment upto ten years. The actor had sufficient knowledge and intention that by driving under the influence of liquor and without a licence it would cause death of people, the prosecutor submitted while summing up final arguments.
Knowledge and intention are the essential ingredients of the charge of ‘culpable homicide not amounting to murder’; Gharat said and cited three judgements to argue that this charge was made out against the accused.
The verdicts cited by him to fix Salman Khan on this charge are Mumbai’s Alistair Pereira Judgement of 2006, Delhi’s Sanjeev Nanda BMW hit-and-run case of 1999 and Naresh Singh versus State of Madhya Pradesh.
The prosecutor said all these cases have a glaring similarity with the Salman Khan hit-and-run case.
Dismissing Khan’s defence that a road near the mishap spot was being repaired at the relevant time and his car ran over stones which were lying there before hitting the shutter of a shop, the prosecutor said, “if that was the case he should have been more cautious and should have reduced the speed of the vehicle.”
“The prosecution said it had proved beyond reasonable doubt its case against the accused and he should be convicted under IPC section 304 part two (culpable homicide not amounting to murder),” said Gharat in his concluding arguments.
Gharat said Alistair Pereira case and Salman Khan case were very much similar. Just like Khan, Alistair was also staying in the same area (Bandra), he was also the under the influence of liquor and was driving without a licence. As Alistair was convicted under culpable homicide charge, Khan too should be similarly held guilty, the prosecutor argued.
