A court yesterday acquitted Bollywood superstar Salman Khan of using unlicensed firearms to kill protected wildlife almost two decades ago.
Khan, 51, has now been acquitted in three out of four cases filed against him for hunting rare black bucks, a native species of antelope, while shooting the movie Hum Saath Saath Hain in the northwestern state of Rajasthan in 1998.
Sporting dark sunglasses, Khan was in court to hear the verdict as hundreds of police deployed outside tried to keep the crowds of fans under control.
He was accompanied to the court by his sister Alvira Khan.
“He was charged under two sections of the Arms Act and he has been cleared in both,” Hastimal Saraswat, a defence lawyer, told reporters outside the court in Jodhpur.
“He was acquitted due to lack of conclusive evidence.”
While pronouncing the acquittal, magistrate Dalpat Singh Rajpurohit said the prosecution could not prove that Khan possessed and used fire arms with expired licence.
Prosecution counsel B SBhati said they would appeal the verdict after studying the 102-page order.
The actor still faces a fourth case on charges of poaching black bucks.
Khan, known for playing a tough guy in Hindi films, had accused the state forest department of framing him in the case.
Shortly after yesterday’s verdict, Khan thanked his fans for their “support and good wishes” on Twitter where he has 21.1mn followers.
But Khan’s acquittal didn’t make everyone happy.
“Salman Khan teaches us that you can pass the buck when it comes to killing blackbucks if you have lots of bucks,” said one Twitter user.
“Salman Khan, the ‘Tees Maar Khan’ of laws and court cases. Shame,” posted another.
One more read: “There are millions who know that Salman Khan is guilty in both cases. Your voice has no value if it is against power and money. How sad!”
Hailing the court decision, actor Alok Nath, who played Khan’s onscreen father in Hum Saath Saath Hain, said: “It is a happy ending to a long, stretched-out case. He and his family must be really relieved.”
He added: “Salman is a great guy. He has a brilliant career. Now, it is time for him to get married and have children.”
Actor Ronit Roy said he was happy for Khan. Actor Rahul Dev, a former contestant of Bigg Boss 10 which Khan hosts said: “I have faith in the judicial system and an acquittal signifies he is innocent. It puts to rest any sense of doubt in eyes of the public.”
Mumbai-based restaurant Bhaijaanz Restaurant, named after the Bajrangi Bhaijaan actor, announced a 50% discount on food yesterday.
The actor is one of Bollywood’s biggest draws and has starred in more than 100 films and television shows.
Last year his movie Sultan, in which he played an ageing wrestler, smashed Bollywood’s box office records.
But Khan is no stranger to controversy and in 2015 he was cleared in another long-running case of killing a homeless man in a hit-and-run crash.
That decision is now being challenged in the Supreme Court.
Indian courts can often take years  – and sometimes decades – to pronounce verdicts.


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