Salman Khan’s blackbuck case hearing adjourned to July

Bollywood superstar Salman Khan’s bail hearing in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case which was scheduled for Monday, was adjourned to July 17.

District and Session Judge Chandra Kumar Songara ordered the arguments to begin but Salman’s lawyer Mahesh Bora wanted some time.

Heeding to his request, Songara adjourned the hearing till July 17.

Salman was seen leaving the Jodhpur trial court soon after. He had arrived here on Sunday.

The actor was convicted and handed a five-year imprisonment on April 5 by Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri for killing two blackbucks 19 years ago. He spent two nights in the Jodhpur Central Jail, before he was granted bail by the sessions court on April 7.

Both Khatri and District and Session Judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi, who gave him bail, have since been transferred.

Salman’s Bollywood colleagues Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre were acquitted by the trial court. Another accused Dushyant Singh, an area resident, was also acquitted.

Salman was accused of shooting and killing blackbucks in Kankani village near Jodhpur on October 1, 1998, during the shooting of the film “Hum Saath Saath Hain”.