Fingerprints not taken from steering wheel: Salman's lawyer

Mumbai, Oct 29: Bollywood actor Salman Khan's lawyer on Friday, Oct 30 argued in the Bombay High Court that police had failed to examine the finger-prints from the steering wheel of his vehicle involved in the 2002 hit-and-run case, although they had alleged that the superstar was driving it.

"The finger-prints had not been taken from the steering wheel of the Toyota Land Cruiser by forensic experts though they had examined the finger-prints of the actor after his arrest in the incident," said Amit Desai while arguing for Salman's appeal against the five-year jail term awarded to him on May 6.

The 49-year-old actor was found guilty by a sessions court of ramming his car into a Bandra shop killing one person and injuring four on September 28, 2002.

"When the appellant was in (police) custody, his finger prints were taken (by forensic experts) as per the standard procedure. However, there are no records to suggest whether the finger prints were taken from the steering-wheel," Desai submitted.

Salman has taken a defence that his family driver Ashok Singh was driving the car and not him as alleged by police.

"Had they (police) taken the finger-prints from the steering wheel, they would have come to know whether Salman was driving or Ashok Singh was driving," Desai said.

There are photos of the car but who has clicked them is not on record. Prosecution Witness-19 (Rajendra Keskar, an RTO inspector) says that it was not taken in his presence and PW-26 (police inspector Rajendra Kadam), who was the first to reach the spot, says he has not taken it, Desai pointed out.

The lawyer also questioned why the theory of tyre burst suggested by some witnesses was not investigated.

Salman's car veered off from the road after a tyre-burst because of rubbles and stones lying there.

Moreover, the standing order of Maharashtra government on investigations of road accidents was not followed and this is evident from the fact that Bandra police did not check the condition of the road at the mishap site, Desai contended.

PTI