There’s a twist in the Salman Khan acquittal drama.
Harish Dulani, the driver who was with the Bollywood star during an alleged hunt in Rajasthan in 1998, claimed that he was threatened and moved towns because he feared for his life.
India’s NDTV channel tracked down the driver, the sole eye witness to the poaching case for which Khan was acquitted on Monday. He had two cases of killing endangered deer against him.
“My father received threats, so I got scared and moved towns near Jodhpur. If I had police protection, I could have given a statement. That was what I always intended ... I had no support and I am scared even now,” said Dulani, speaking in Hindi to NDTV.
The Rajasthan High Court set Khan free as they had no evidence to prove that the deer were shot by Khan’s licensed gun.
“I stick to the statement I made before the magistrate 18 years ago, that Salman Khan got off the car and shot the deer,” Dulani told NDTV on Wednesday.
Dulani has been missing since 2002, which weakened the prosecution’s case against the actor.
In his statement before a judge after the incident in 1998, the driver said: “Salman Khan was not only driving the gypsy but he also shot the deer. He even got off to slit the neck of the deer and then drove the car again.”
Following the acquittal, the New York Times quoted Khan’s lawyer, Mahesh Bora, as saying: “We argued that we were not given the opportunity to cross-examine the eyewitness, and the forensic evidence does not link Salman Khan directly and cannot be treated as evidence.”
A third case about Salman Khan’s alleged poaching of endangered blackbucks is yet to be decided in Rajasthan and a case involving illegal arms connected to the poaching charges is pending.
