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Salman gets his arms back

Kamla Bora in Jaipur

Bollywood actor Salman Khan, facing criminal charges for allegedly hunting protected wild animals in a forest near Jodhpur, has been allowed by a court to get his seized weapons back.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Jodhpur, Raj Kamal Gaur ordered the forest department to hand over the arms and their licences to the star against a surety of Rs 200,000 and a bond of equal amount.

Though the court ordered the release of a revolver, an air gun and its telescopic sight, besides a camera and its film, it has retained the seized rifle allegedly used in shooting a black buck and two chinkaras as evidence.

The arms were seized when the actor was arrested by forest officials in Jodhpur where he was taking part in the shooting of Rajshree Productions' Hum Saath Saath Hain in October 1998.

The others accused, including actor Saif Ali Khan and actresses Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam, were released on bail on the day of their arrest. But Salman Khan, the main accused, was kept in custody for almost a week. He was released from Jodhpur Central Jail only after he got bail in five different cases under the Protection of Wildlife Act and Arms Act.

While the police had filed two chargesheets against Salman Khan and others under sections 147, 148, 149 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code and sections 9, 39, 51 and 52 of the Arms Act in May last year, the forest department is yet to challan him as its investigation is still on.

The additional chief judicial magistrate early this week declared spot boy Dinesh Gawre, another accused in the case, an absconder and ordered confiscation of his property. The court's order came on an application filed by the prosecution stating that Gawre, who was granted anticipatory bail by the district and sessions court, Jodhpur, in November 1998, was untraceable. The residential address given by him to the court turned out to be false and nobody seems to know his whereabouts in Bombay.

The prosecution said declaration of Gawre as absconder and issue of a permanent arrest warrant against him would pave the way for filing chargesheets in the remaining cases.

Meanwhile, Salman Khan has been allowed to go abroad for shooting.

He and the others were arrested in October 1998 after the poaching incidents came to light when local villagers lodged complaints with forest officials and police.

According to the prosecution, Khan shot a black buck on the outskirts of Mathania village near a stud farm in Jodhpur district. While he shot the protected animals, the others accompanying him hailed his marksmanship.

The chargesheets filed against the actors last year in two cases run into 246 pages and list 78 witnesses.

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