The sessions court in Mumbai on Saturday allowed the prosecution in
the 2002 hit-and-run case to rely upon the statement of Ravindra Patil,
an eye-witness who was actor Salman Khan's bodyguard and who died during
the trial.
Patil, a police constable, died on October 3, 2007 in the midst of
the earlier trial before the magistrate. The prosecution had said that
his statement, recorded by the magistrate, should be taken on record in
this trial which is being conducted afresh after the charge of culpable
homicide was pressed against the actor.
Patil had said in his statement that he was sitting beside Khan (when
the accident had happened) and had warned him not to drive rashly but
Khan did not heed the advice.
Patil, who was the one to lodge the complaint after the mishap, had
also said that the actor was under the influence of alcohol then.
On September 28, 2002, Khan's car had rammed into a bakery in
suburban Bandra, killing one person and injuring four others who were
sleeping on the pavement.
Judge D W Deshpande allowed both the prosecution and the defence to
reply on Patil's statement. He said that opportunity would be given to
Khan to explain the circumstances in which Patil made the statement.
The accused would also be given the opportunity to cross-examine the
investigation officer in the context of evidence given by Patil and to
clarify his own stand on it in the concluding defence argument, it said.
The value of Patil's evidence would be decided only later and not at this stage, the court said.
Khan's lawyer, advocate Srikant Shivade, had opposed the application
filed by the prosecutor Pradeep Gharat, saying that it would cause
prejudice to his client.
However, the court said that opportunity would be given to the
accused to question the investigation officer on Patil's evidence and
also explain under what situation the witness had given the statement to
the magistrate.
The court also allowed the prosecution to rely on the statement of Dr
Sanap who had conducted autopsy of the accident victim. Sanap now lives
in the United States and therefore is not available in Mumbai.
Khan's lawyer said he will not claim that Sanap's evidence would cause any prejudice. He also accepted the post-mortem report
In another development, Ravindra Patil's brother, also a police
constable, deposed today, saying that Patil died on October 3, 2007. He
was not keeping well and had been suspended for remaining absent from
work for a long time.
The prosecution examined him to bring on record the fact that Patil is dead.
The court asked the investigation officers to depose on March 12 and
13 on the evidence recorded by them. The case, dragging on for over a
decade, took a twist last year when a city magistrate, after examining
17 witnesses, had held that the charge of culpable homicide not
amounting to murder was made out against the actor and referred the case
to the sessions court.
The charge of culpable homicide attracts a 10-year sentence. Earlier,
Khan was charged with causing death by negligence, which provides
imprisonment of up to two years.
Source:http://www.rediff.com/news/report/hit-and-run-case-evidence-of-salmans-dead-bodyguard-can-be-used-says-court/20150307.htm
