Salman Khan, a free man!

In major reprieve for Salman Khan, the Bollywood superstar has been acquitted of all charges in the 2002 hit-and-run case for lack of incriminating evidence against him.

"On basis of evidences produced by the prosecution, the appellant cannot be convicted, no matter how differently the common man thinks," the Bombay High Court ruled on Thursday.

He was convicted of all charges by a sessions court earlier this year in the case relating to 2002 when Salman’s Toyota Land Cruiser had crashed into five men sleeping outside a bakery on Hill Road in Bandra in the early hours of September 28. One person was killed and four others were injured. Salman Khan's lawyers had argued that his driver Ashok Singh was behind the wheels. He had then been sentenced to five years in jail.

But later, the Bombay HC suspended the sentence after the actor appealed against his conviction.On Wednesday, the HC said three important things: The prosecution had failed to bring material on record that could prove beyond reasonable doubt that Salman was driving the car in the incident; the prosecution failed to convince the court that he was under the influence of alcohol; Ravindra Patil, who was Salman’s bodyguard when the incident happened (died in 2007), was a ‘wholly unreliable witness' and the credibility of his statement that the actor was driving drunk and had ignored his warnings repeatedly was questionable.

"If the witness is partly reliable, then corroboration is required. Ravindra Patil cannot be considered as a wholly reliable witness," the court said, asserting that the sessions court had made a mistake by relying on his statement.

Also, not examining singer Kamaal Khan, who was also in Salman Khan's car that night, was an error, the court observed.
(Image credit: Indiatimes)