An Indian court has found Bollywood star Salman Khan guilty of killing a homeless man in a 2002 hit-and-run driving incident in Mumbai.
The man was among five people who were run over in the incident. The actor was charged with culpable homicide.
Khan had said his driver was behind the wheel, but the judge said the actor was driving the car and was under the influence of alcohol at the time.
His sentence is still to be announced. Khan faces up to 10 years in jail.
Legal experts say the actor is bound to appeal against the verdict and the case is likely to go on for many more years.
But correspondents say Wednesday's guilty verdict is a huge setback for Khan who is one of Bollywood's biggest stars, appearing in more than 80 Hindi-language films.
Several of his films, including Dabangg, Ready, Bodyguard, Ek Tha Tiger, Maine Pyar Kiya and Hum Aap Ke Hain Kaun, have been huge commercial hits.
Driver's testimony
Late on the night of 28 September 2002, Khan's Toyota Land Cruiser hit the American Express bakery in the Bandra area of Mumbai, authorities say.
The vehicle ran over five people sleeping on the street, killing 38-year-old Noor Ullah Khan and seriously injuring three others. Another person received minor injuries.
The prosecution alleged that Khan was driving the car and that he was drunk, both of which charges the actor denied in court in March.
But many witnesses disagreed.
A constable attached to Khan's security detail said in a statement to the police that the "drunk" actor had lost control of the car. The policeman died in 2007 of tuberculosis.
In April, Khan's driver told the court that he had crashed the car after a tyre burst but the court did not accept that version
No comments:
Post a Comment