Salman arrested, to be produced in CJM court

Jodhpur, Aug 25 (UNI) Bollywood actor Salman Khan, whose five-year imprisonment in the chinkara poaching case was upheld by a local court yesterday, was arrested at the airport here after he landed from Mumbai this afternoon.

The actor arrived here along with his lawyer Deepesh Mehata and brother Sohail Khan and would be produced in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate later in the day.

Salman's counsel Hastimal Saraswat has already moved a review petition in the Rajasthan High Court.

In a last-ditch effort to evade the non-bailable arrest warrant issued against him by the District and Sessions Court yesterday, Salman surrendered before police even though they had dispatched a special team to Mumbai to take him into custody.

He was, however, arrested at the airport itself, foiling his plan to surrender in court.

Yesterday, Sessions Court Judge Kamal Raj Singhvi upheld the lower court's verdict of April 10, 2006 sentencing him to a five-year imprisonment for poaching chinkaras.

The absence of Salman in the court yesterday during the hearing forced the judge to issue a non-bailable arrest warrant against the actor. The judge also asked the Superintendent of Police to form a special team to arrest him following which a special team was sent to Mumbai.

He was convicted of poaching a chinkara, a species of endangered antelope, in Ghoda Farm under Mathania police station.

Security has been stepped up on the CJM court premises and a large number of fans have gathered there.

UNI