Ajay Parmar (THE TIMES OF INDIA; September 16, 2018)

Jodhpur: Rajasthan government will challenge the acquittal of Bollywood actors Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam in the blackbuck poaching case in which Salman Khan was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment on April 5.

Additional Advocate General (AAG) S K Vyas said, “I have received the law department’s sanction for an appeal against their acquittal. I will file the appeal in the high court next week.” The five actors, along with two others — a local travel agent Dushyant Singh and Salman Khan’s then assistant Dinesh Gawre — were accused of poaching the endangered animals at Johdpur’s Kankani village on the night of October 1-2, 1998. While Gawre is on the run, the rest underwent trial before Salman Khan was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 10,000 and the others acquitted. The four actors and Singh were charged as co-accused and framed under section 51 of Wild Life Act, section 149 IPC and section 52 of the Wild Life Act for provoking the main accused Salman Khan to poach the animal. But the trial court acquitted them because of lack of evidence.

“Forest department wrote to state government for appealing against acquittals. The matter was referred to law department, which gave a nod to file appeal”, said Mahipal Singh, a prosecution counsels.

DNA (April 6, 2018)

For 20 years, Tabu, Sonali Bendre Behl, Saif Ali Khan, Salman Khan and Neelam Kothari Soni have been inseparable. Like the title of their film Hum Saath Saath Hain during the shooting of which they found themselves embroiled in a controversy (the blackbuck poaching case), these stars, who aren’t exactly buddies, had to stay in regular touch with one another because of the long-drawn court proceedings.

Yesterday was judgement day. Salman was convicted and the others were acquitted, but even as they wiped their tears of relief, they were unable to truly smile. Firstly, because one of them, Salman, still had an arduous journey ahead. And secondly, because the memory of these last two decades have actually been a nightmare. And it has taken a toll on their mental and physical being.

An insider said, “A couple of stars from the group had to dig deep into their personal funds to pay for their legal fee. While some of the accused were more prosperous than others and had enough funds to meet the lawyers’ demands, for some, it was a difficult time.” One of the actors from the acquitted lot had earlier said, “I’ve not been so active in my career in the last few years. And, I had to depend on my savings to pay my legal counsel. It has drained me financially.”

Through the last few years, the actors regrouped in various places — sometimes at one of the actor’s homes in Bandra or at other times meeting in Jodhpur, hours before the Court case. One hears they would exchange pleasantries, but there was always an uncomfortable silence because the judgement was still due.

Yesterday, four of them walked free and one was left behind. As far as Bollywood goes, this chapter is far from over. After all, Salman is an important part of this community. Since he stood guilty as charged, there was no reason to rejoice.

What is the case about
In 1998, while shooting for Hum Saath Saath Hain in Rajasthan, Salman Khan along with his co-stars — Saif Ali Khan, Neelam Kothari Soni, Sonali Bendre Behl and Tabu — went on a shooting expedition. Salman is believed to have killed two blackbucks in Jodhpur’s Kankani village. On the midnight of October 1, 1998, the Bishnoi villagers, on hearing gunshots, came out running from their huts. They alleged that they chased the Gypsy that Salman was driving, and that he fled. The blackbuck is an endangered species and is protected under the Indian Wildlife Act. Following protests by the villagers, a case was filed against Salman, Saif, Neelam, Sonali and Tabu. Salman was charged under section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act whereas the others were charged under Section 51 read with Section 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code. Yesterday, a Jodhpur court pronounced its verdict. Salman was found guilty and given a five-year jail term.

Superstar Salman Khan gets 5-year jail term; Saif, Tabu, Neelam, Sonali Bendre get ‘benefit of doubt’
MUMBAI MIRROR (April 6, 2018)

The math comes to precisely 5. That’s how many years megastar Salman Khan will have to spend in jail, as per the order of a Jodhpur court. Salman was on Thursday convicted for poaching two black bucks — an endangered species — in October 1998, sentenced to five years of imprisonment and fined Rs 10,000.

The offence, under Section 9/51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, attracts a maximum punishment of six years in jail.

Dressed in a pair of jeans and a navy blue shirt, Salman had arrived in Jodhpur from Mumbai in a chartered plane and had planned his return for the afternoon in the hopes of an acquittal.

After the judgment was pronounced, the 52-year-old actor was immediately whisked away to Jodhpur Central Jail, where he had spent 18 days in total in 1998, 2006 and 2007 — all for cases of poaching. His lawyers said he would have to spend the night in jail as his bail request could be heard only on Friday. As he has been sentenced to more than three years of imprisonment, he would have to appeal in a higher court for bail.

The court acquitted the co-accused in the case — actors Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre, and a local, Dushyant Singh — owing to lack of evidence and gave them the “benefit of doubt”.

Salman killed the black bucks in Kankani village near Jodhpur on October 1, 1998, during the shoot of film Hum Saath Saath Hain. Black bucks are endangered animals and are included in Schedule-I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The prosecution’s argument of the star being a habitual offender is said to have weighed heavily against him.
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Death threat from notorious gangster

A life threat to Salman has left the Jodhpur Central Jail’s staff on the edge. Dreaded criminal Lawrence Bishnoi, who is facing trial in over 20 cases of attempt to murder, carjacking, extortion and snatching, and Arms Act, had in January threatened to kill the actor.

“Salman Khan will be killed here, in Jodhpur. Then he will come to know about our (the Bishnoi community that had filed the poaching case against the actor) real identity,” Lawrence told reporters then.

Although Lawrence is lodged in a jail in Ajmer, a number of his accomplices are in the Jodhpur prison, prompting the staff to keep a tight vigil on Salman. — Prakash Bhandari in Jodhpur
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Rs 400 cr riding on Salman

Salman Khan was in Abu Dhabi shooting for Race 3 when he rushed to Mumbai on Wednesday. He boarded a chartered plane to reach Jodhpur.

Bollywood analysts say around Rs 400 crore could be riding on Salman, who has seen phenomenal box office success since the release of Dabangg (2010). Sources said his legal troubles will not really affect Race 3, as some patchwork and dubbing are all that’s left. The movie is slated for an Eid release.

Salman is scheduled to start the shoot of Ali Abbas Zafar’s Bharat in June. The big budget entertainer is scheduled to be shot in Spain, Poland, Portugal, Malta, Abu Dhabi, besides Punjab and Delhi. Around the same time, Salman is also scheduled to start shooting for the third instalment of home production Dabangg with Sonakshi Sinha. The film will be helmed by Prabhu Deva. There’s also the second instalment of Kick, to be directed by Salman’s closest friend, Sajid Nadiadwala.

The superstar is also bringing back his reality show Dus Ka Dum on television — the Indian version of the American game show Power of 10 — after nine years. —Natasha Coutinho

Bharati Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; April 6, 2018)

Jodhpur Sessions Court yesterday convicted Salman Khan in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case. The actor was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment along with a penalty of `10,000 under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act. He was reportedly accused of killing blackbucks in a village near Jodhpur, during the shooting of Hum Saath Saath Hain.

The co-accused in the case — Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam Kothari — who were also present at the hearing yesterday, were acquitted. At the time of going to press, Salman was taken into custody, and was reportedly to be housed in the Jodhpur Central Jail. His bail application will be heard in court today.

When Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri pronounced Salman guilty in court, his sisters Alvira Agnihotri and Arpita Khan Sharma, who had accompanied him to the court along with his bodyguard Shera, broke down.

Before the actors reached the court, security had been beefed up, with officials deployed inside and outside the court complex. To avoid mishaps and misinformation, the entry of media and other lawyers inside the courtroom was restricted to only those associated with the case.

Back home in Mumbai, the actor’s fans were waiting for his return, but instead, the news reached them that he had been pronounced guilty.
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Excerpts from Salman Khan’s previous interviews with us

It becomes a media trial. Hum khud nahi baat kar sakte hain about any detail because it is sub judice. Lekin baaki saari duniya baat karti hai. Aapne do galat article likh diye mere baare mein toh judge sahib ne dekhe hain... Woh kahin na kahin influence kar jaate hain... In any high-profile celeb case in a small court, if you let the person get away, the media will say, how can you let him get away, he is powerful, he has connections, etc, etc. If the star is thrown inside prison, then also the media will start off, saying fans are upset, the case is not strong enough, you are just making an example out of him. So it’s a Catch-22 situation even for the authorities... We need people to take a stand

— In August 2009
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Q: I heard from a cine source that for all the branding Salman has got because of the blackbuck case, the reality is that in a group of many people, all of whom were equally involved – or equally not involved – one guy chose to say, ‘I will carry it all on my head, you can walk off’. How true is that?

I don’t know the jungle. I am from Bombay. If you put me in a forest, or if you even put me in some street in Mumbai itself — Kandivali, Dharavi, Virar, Colaba — I may not know how to get back. You’re expecting me to go 30-40 km in the middle of the jungle, in the middle of the night, driving a gypsy, with a searchlight in my hand, without a driver, without anybody. While driving, find the animal, chase the animal, shoot the animal, put it back. So it’s night, I’m driving with one hand, I’m holding the searchlight with the other, and I’m shooting with which hand?

I don’t even know the route back to the hotel if I am in the middle of the jungle. There is nobody to ask at midnight. And, in the middle of the same forest, they have some 370 witnesses. Come on...

— In May 2011

20 Years Later, Superstar Salman Given 5 Years’ Jail For Shooting Blackbucks; Co-Stars Saif, Sonali, Neelam And Tabu Let Off
Bhanupratap Singh (THE TIMES OF INDIA; April 6, 2018)

Jodhpur: Nearly 20 years after his infamous blackbuck hunts made national headlines, the law finally caught up with Bollywood megastar Salman Khan on Thursday. A trial court sentenced the actor to five years in prison for poaching two of the protected antelopes at Kankani village in 1998.

Salman, who was present in court with his sisters Alvira and Arpita, spent the night in Jodhpur central jail, where he was taken soon after the verdict was pronounced.

Salman’s co-stars Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre, who allegedly accompanied him during the hunt on the night of October 1-2, 1998, were given the benefit of doubt and acquitted. All of them were camping in Jodhpur at that time for the shooting of ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’.

“Khan is a film star whose actions are followed by the common man and still he shot dead two innocent and mute blackbucks, a Schedule-I animal under the Wildlife Protection Act, so he cannot be granted benefit under the Probation of Offenders Act as sought by the defence,” chief judicial magistrate (Jodhpur rural) Dev Kumar Khatri wrote in the 201-page judgment.

Salman’s lawyer H M Saraswat swiftly filed a bail application for the star in the sessions court which is on the same premises. The plea will be heard on Friday. Saraswat said an appeal against the conviction too would be filed soon after going through the trial court’s verdict.

The defence lawyer had pleaded for leniency for Salman under the Probation of Offenders Act. But the judge said the benefit was being denied also because incidents of illegal hunting were on the rise. The court found Khan guilty under Section 9/51 of the Wildlife Protection Act and also imposed a penalty of Rs 10,000. This was the third poaching case against Salman during the shooting of ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’. Lower courts convicted him in two other cases but he was subsequently acquitted by the HC.

The Rajasthan government had appealed against Salman’s previous acquittals and two cases are pending in the Supreme Court since October 2016.

Apart from Salman’s four co-stars, another co-accused, Dushyant Singh, a local travel and transport agent who was allegedly with them when the crime was committed, was also acquitted in the Kankani case.

Anand Desai, another lawyer of the Bollywood star, said in a statement: “It (the verdict) just came as a surprise, as the entire investigation and facts were the same as those for which Salman had been acquitted by the high court of Rajasthan in two cases and even by the trial court in an Arms Act case concerning the same night.”

While acquitting Salman’s co-accused, the judge said though their presence at the crime scene has been shown in the statements of witnesses, their involvement in the crime has not been established beyond doubt. The prosecution said it would appeal against all acquittals.

Youths from the Bishnoi community and wildlife lovers who had gathered outside the court burst crackers as soon as they learnt about Salman’s conviction. Mahipal Bishnoi, lawyer for the Bishnoi Tiger Force, an organisation known for protecting blackbucks even at the cost of their lives, said: “We are happy that Khan has been sentenced, but we will ask the government to appeal against those who have been acquitted in this case.”

Public prosecutor Bhawani Singh Bhati said the statements of witness Chhogaram, DNA fingerprinting and the postmortem reports of the blackbucks helped in nailing Salman. “We were able to establish that the two blackbucks died from gunshots and that these were fired by Salman,” said Bhati, who had demanded maximum punishment of six years in jail for the actor.

Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 7, 2017)