Blackbuck poaching: Salman does a no-show in Jodhpur court, cites 'busy schedule'

Actor Salman Khan, who was supposed to appear before the Jodhpur court on Friday in connection with the 1998 blackbuck poaching case, failed to do so citing busy schedule. The 53-year-old actor's lawyer informed the District and Sessions Court that Khan was busy shooting for an upcoming film, and also mentioned the death threat his client received days ahead of the case. The court has adjourned the matter to December 19.

The 'Bharat' actor received a death threat on Tuesday through a Facebook post by an account named Gary Shooter. It carried a picture of the actor with a red cross on it. Following this, Rajasthan police began investigating the matter.

On April 5 last year, Khan was sentenced to five years imprisonment after being found guilty of killing two blackbucks in Jodhpur during the shooting of his 1998 movie 'Hum Saath Saath Hain'. However, the court later granted him bail after he spent two nights at the Jodhpur jail.




His co-stars -- Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Neelam Kothari and Tabu -- besides another accused Dushyant Singh were acquitted due to lack of evidence.

In May this year, the Jodhpur bench of the Rajasthan High Court had issued fresh notices to the actors following an appeal by the Rajasthan government against their acquittal by a chief judicial magistrate's court.

Notice was also issued to Dushyant Singh who was allegedly accompanying the actors when the poaching took place.

The high court had on March 11 issued notices to the five respondents on the state government's appeal challenging their acquittal.