A Jodhpur court on Thursday convicted actor Salman Khan in the two-decades-old blackbuck poaching case .
Co-accused actors Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam Kothari were given the benefit of the doubt and acquitted. The quantum of punishment will be pronounced later in the day.
If Salman Khan’s sentence is less than three years, he will get bail from the Jodhpur court itself. If the quantum is over three years, the actor goes to jail and will have to seek bail from the sessions court.
Final arguments of the case were completed in the trial court on March 28, after which chief judicial magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri had reserved the judgment for Thursday.
Salman is accused of killing two blackbucks, hunting of which is prohibited under the Wildlife Protection Act, at Kankani village in Jodhpur during the shooting of film Hum Saath Saath Hain. Actors Saif, Sonali, Tabu and Neelam and a local resident, Dushyant Singh, are among the accused in the case.
Salman Khan, 52, arrived from Mumbai in a chartered flight. He was earlier in Abu Dhabi for the shooting for “Race 3”. Bendre, Saif Ali Khan, Tabu and Neelam also reached Jodhpur from Mumbai.
