A court in Jodhpur has asked Bollywood actors Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Neelam and Tabu to appear before it on January 25 for recording of statements in the 1998 black buck poaching case. Chief Judicial Magistrate Dalpat Singh today passed the orders after examining all the witnesses in the court. The aforementioned stars worked together in Rajshri Productions movie Hum Saath Saath Hai, during shooting of which the incident happened. The incident dates back to October 1, 1998.
Bigg Boss 10 host Salman Khan is the prime accused in this case facing trial under Arms Act. He has been facing trial for poaching of an endangered black buck in Kankani village in Jodhpur and possession of illegal arms.
Last year when Salman appeared in the court in this connection, he pleaded non-guilty. The actor had then stated that he was being framed by the police officials in the locality. He had said the officials planned this against him after a newspaper carried a news about him.
Also read: Verdict in Salman Khan Arms Act case to be pronounced on Jan 18
On a related note, Salman Khan was said to file a defamation case against a channel for maligning his image. Reports said that Salman filed a Rs 100 crore suit against the channel for airing a sting operation that claimed Salman shot the endangered species. The channel claimed that eye witnesses said in the video that they saw Salman shooting them. But later the witnesses turned hostile and later said that video was doctored. In his suit, Salman pleaded the court to refrain the channel to release the video as it would ruin his public image.
