2002 hit-and-run case: Salman Khan's lawyer wants singer Kamal Khan as witness

Actor Salman Khan’s lawyer Monday filed an application before the Bombay High Court seeking singer Kamal Khan to be summoned as a witness in the 2002 hit-and-run case.

Kamal Khan (43) was apparently present in the vehicle when the accident took place while the car was making its way from J W Marriott to Galaxy Apartment on the night of the accident.

Khan’s lawyer Amit Desai moved an application before Justice A R Joshi, who asked the chief public prosecutor Sandeep Shinde to file the state’s response by Tuesday. The prosecution is going to begin its arguments by Tuesday.

Khan’s lawyer Amit Desai argued that it was the duty of the trial court to question the prosecution’s decision of not questioning Kamal Khan though he was cited as an eyewitness.

“Under Section 391 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the Bombay High Court can summon a witness,” said Desai. Public prosecutor Poornima Kantharia, however, opposed this. On May 6, Salman Khan was convicted on charges of culpable homicide, not amounting to murder, in the 2002 hit-and-run case in which one man died and four were injured. The prosecution’s case is that the actor’s white Toyota Landcruiser ran over men, sleeping on a pavement in suburban Bandra on September 28, 2002.

Justice A R Joshi is hearing the actor’s appeal against his sentencing by the sessions court.

“Kamal Khan was listed as a witness in the Bandra Magistrate’s Court. He was listed as a witness in the Mumbai Session’s Court but was not examined as a witness. Ravindra Patil, the star witness of the prosecution, said that Kamal Khan was in the car. The prosecution listed Kamal Khan as a witness but he was not examined and they have not informed the reasons for this,” said Desai.

“The trial court should have thought about drawing an adverse inference against the prosecution for not questioning an eyewitness. Instead, in its judgment, the court tried repeatedly to bolster Patil’s statements without ever trying to corroborate the same by questioning Kamal Khan,” Desai said.

He tried to draw a difference between Alistair Pereira and Sanjeev Nanda’s cases in comparison to the accident involving the star. According to him while in the Pereira case, alcohol bottles were found next to the driver’s seat, in Nanda’s case, he ran away.

“He {Salman) was not drunk and driving the car and he tried to make an effort to help the injured and had to leave because of the mob," added Desai.