Blackbuck died of ‘natural causes’, Salman tells Jodhpur court; pleads not guilty

Bollywood actor Salman Khan today told a Jodhpur court that the blackbuck had suffered a natural death 18 years ago and that he was being falsely implicated in the case.

"Only the first forensic report of Dr Nepalia saying that the animal died of ‘natural causes’ was true and the rest of the evidence is false," Salman said in his statement before a local court here where he and others appeared to record their statements.

The actor, who was standing between his lawyers from Mumbai, Anand Desai and others, was asked 60-odd questions by the court to most of which he said ‘galat’(wrong). 

When Chief Judicial Magistrate Dalpat Singh Rajpurohit asked the star, ‘you were seen by two people who said they saw you shoot the blackbuck’, the actor, clad in a blue shirt and jeans, replied ‘galat’ (wrong). 

The court said that the ‘jeep was found with blood stains and hair of the blackbucks’, to which Salman said ‘false’. 

‘You went shooting at night?’ the court asked. ‘False’ was Salman response.

When asked ‘who was driving the jeep, he replied: "I do not know, I was not there. This case is a cooked-up case."

He even accused the forest department of trying to frame him in the case to ‘gain publicity’.

The questions asked to the 51-year-old superstar were a summary of the prosecution case against him and the evidence produced so far in court.

Salman reached the court with other co-accused in the case - Neelam, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Saif Ali Khan at 11.20am. He was in the court for close to an hour and left immediately after his statement was recorded.

Speaking to reporters outside the court, Salman’s counsel H M Saraswat said, “Khan has not committed any crime. After the film shooting, he used to remain in the hotel. He has been framed in the case and we would produce the evidence in favour of his innocence on the next date.”

Earlier the court had summoned Salman and the other co-accused for recording of their statements in a case filed against them for alleged poaching of two blackbucks at Kankani village during the shooting of family drama ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’ in 1998.