Salman Khan returns to court over antelope killing
News & Trends •
he spent two nights in jodhpur central jail before being released on bail by a judge and returning to mumbai the home of indias multi-billion-dollar hindi film industry1 indian movie star salman khan was due back in court on monday over a five-year jail sentence he received for killing rare antelopes1 khan one of the worlds highest-paid actors was convicted last month of shooting dead two antelopes known as black bucks on a hunting trip while filming a movie in october 19981 he was sentenced to five years in prison and is currently out on bail1 at mondays hearing khans lawyer is expected to call for the sentence to be suspended pending an appeal1 on april 6 a court found him guilty in the 20-year-old case while acquitting four other actors1 the bollywood icon arrived in jodhpur in the western state of rajasthan sunday after flying from mumbai for the hearing india media reported1 khan has repeatedly denied killing the endangered animals and accuses rajasthans forest department of trying to frame him1 his lawyers claim the black bucks died of natural causes such as overeating insisting there was no evidence they were shot1 throughout the multiple cases eyewitnesses have stated they saw khan firing a gun1 the 52-year-old enjoys a cult-like status in star-obsessed india and is one of bollywoods biggest draws despite a host of controversies1 khan was in a vehicle in mumbai in 2002 when it mounted the curb and killed a homeless man sleeping on the pavement1 he was found guilty of culpable homicide and sentenced to five years in prison but the verdict was overturned in a higher court in 2015. his acquittal is being challenged in the supreme court1