Salman Khan's SUV wasn't speeding, it skid due to tyre burst: Defence lawyer

Mumbai, April 17: Salman Khan's lawyer while giving his final arguments in the 2002 hit and-run case claimed that the accident or the mishap took place to a tyre burst, because of which the vehicle skid and it led to the incident.

As per a TOI report, "The prosecution claims that the car, with Salman at the wheel, was travelling at around 90 kmph and rammed into the American Express Bakery shutter while taking a turn from St Andrews Road onto Hill Road.

Salman's lawyer, Shrikant Shivde, told the court of Judge DW Deshpande that the actor's car had turned onto Hill Road from Manuel Gonsalves Road, much before St Andrews Road."

Salman Khan's car was not speeding, claims defence lawyer

Salman Khan's defence advocate also said that the actor's vehicle was not speeding and the motor vehicle officer was not an expert to examine the vehicle.

Supporting his claim on the motor vehicle expert the lawyer also said the expert in his entire life, had never checked an imported car and had just conducted tests only on Indian cars of basic models.

Salman's lawyer says blood sample wasn't his

Bollywood star Salman Khan's lawyer rejected the prosecution's claim in the 2002 hit-and-run case that the actor was drunk at the time, saying that the blood sample sent for chemcial analysis was not his.

Advocate Shrikant Shivade, Khan's lawyer, claimed that the sample, which showed 62 mg of alcohol per 100 ml, had not been extracted from the actor.

Questioning the "professional competency" of the chemical analyst who performed the test, Shivade said that the prescribed procedure was not followed.

Referring to the analyst's statement in the court, the lawyer said he had received 4 ml blood sample, though 6 ml blood had been drawn from Khan for the test.

"The shortfall of 2 ml is enough to draw an inference that the sample taken from accused and the one sent to lab were not the same," he said.

The test was conducted at the Forensic Science Laboratory in Kalina in suburban Mumbai which does not have certification from International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) or accreditation of National Board of Accreditation (NAB), the defence lawyer said.

"Rules were violated and hence prosecution has failed to prove that the accused's blood contained alcohol to the tune of 62 mg per 100 ml," Shivade argued before the sessions judge D W Deshpande.

Khan (49) is facing the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. He is accused of ramming his SUV into a bakery in suburban Bandra on September 28, 2002, killing one person and inuring four others.

OneIndia News

(With inputs from agencies)