Hit and run case: Salman was not found after mishap, says cop

Mumbai, Mar 12: A police officer, who had registered an FIR against actor Salman Khan in 2002 in the hit-and-run case, informed the trial court today that Khan was not found at the accident spot after the mishap on that day or at his house, which was barely 200 metres away.

"When I reached the spot, I did not find Khan. I then went to his house in nearby Galaxy apartments but even there the accused was not traced," said Rajendra Kadam, one of the investigating officers who had registered a case against the Bollywood actor for alleged rash and negligent driving.

Khan is charged with ramming his white Land Cruiser car into the American Express bakery shop in suburban Bandra, killing one person and injuring four people who were sleeping on the pavement on September 28, 2002.

According to the prosecution, Khan was allegedly under the influence of liquor while driving the car and had left the spot as soon as he met with the accident.

After a few hours, he had surrendered himself at the police station. In the court today, Khan, attired in blue jeans and blue shirt, sat in the front row along with his sister Alvira.

The 49-year-old actor keenly watched the proceedings and talked to his lawyer Srikant Shivade occasionally.

In a related development, trial Judge D W Deshpande, on a defence plea, asked Bandra police station to produce case diaries tomorrow to go through the entries made therein by the investigation officer on the first three days from the date of mishap.

The defence lawyer wants to scrutinise the entries to cross examine the police officer. Prosecutor Pradeep Gharat said he had no objection to the production of the case diaries provided they were exhibited as evidence in the court.

Kadam informed the court that he was on night duty on the day of the mishap. He got a telephone call about the accident and rushed to the spot on a motorbike along with a police constable.

"On reaching there, I found people had gathered at the spot and they were pushing around Khan's police bodyguard Ravindra Patil. We pulled out Patil from the crowd and he told us what had happened. Only then, police came to know that Khan had met with an accident," Kadam told the court.

PTI