BOMBAY TIMES (April 8, 2018)

After being sentenced to five years’ imprisonment with a fine of  Rs 10,000 in the 1998 black buck poaching case by the Jodhpur Sessions Court, Salman Khan was granted bail yesterday, against a bond of Rs 50,000. The co-accused in the case, Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam Kothari and Sonali Bendre, were acquitted on Thursday and had returned to Mumbai the same day. The next hearing of the case is on May 7. At the time of going to press, Salman was scheduled to leave Jodhpur to return to Mumbai. Back home, outside his building Galaxy Apartments in Bandra, fans had begun to gather.

BT spoke to Ramesh Taurani, producer of Race 3, which is Salman’s next release. He said, “I can’t wait to meet Salman bhai. Not just me, the entire industry is celebrating that he’s coming home. I was getting incessant calls for the last two days from the media regarding Race 3. I must tell you that he had wrapped up most of the film. We’re just left with a song to be shot, which will be completed in India. The whole team of the film is eager to meet him. I am sure everyone in the industry was hoping and probably even expecting this to happen. We were all praying that he comes home soon and our prayers have indeed been answered.”

We also got in touch with Salman’s father Salim Khan, who politely said, “I’ve never commented on these issues and won’t do it this time as well.”