Mumbai police helped Salman Khan evade law for 10 yrs:Ex-cop

, Nov 2: Bollywood star

escaped prosecution in the 2002 hit-and-run case because top

officials have been helping him evade summons repeatedly, said former IPS officer YP Singh.

Addressing a press conference here today, Singh pointed out the actor's case has surprisingly dragged on for a decade while those responsible for similar hit-and-run cases in India's financial capital were put behind bars within a matter of two years.

Singh, who was once part of the Central Bureau of Investigation, cited the Alistair Pereira case in which a fast track court convicted the 21-year-old accused of causing the death of 15 labourers at Carter Road back in 2006. The Bombay High Court and subsequently the Supreme Court upheld Alistair's conviction.

YP Singh also referred to the Nooriya Haveliwala case in which the culprit, an NRI beautician, was sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment for running over a sub-inspector and a biker at Marine Drive on Jan 30, 2010.

Singh wondered why both the aforementioned cases were disposed off speedily but Salman's case is still nowhere near completion even after ten years.

One person was killed and 4 others sleeping on the pavement were injured when the actor rammed his Toyota Land Cruiser into a bakery in Bandra on Sept 28, 2002.

Two eyewitnesses turned hostile in the case. YP Singh said that the litigants are responsible for the delays in this case and rued that the former are colluding with Salman.

Mumbai Police did not serve summons properly to the actor and moreover, Salman failed to respond to as many as 82 summons, Singh said.

He demanded to know whether the government had put pressure on the Mumbai Police to slow down the case or Salman's celebrity status had in fact been the main reason for him being almost let off the hook.

Singh stressed that though courts are usually blamed for inordinate delays, mostly the litigants ensure that cases drag on for years.

OneIndia News