Maharashtra unlikely to challenge suspension of Bollywood superstar Salman Khan's sentence

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government is unlikely to challenge the order of the Bombay High Court suspending the five-year sentence of actor Salman Khan. The actor was found guilty on Wednesday by a trial judge, under the stringent charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, for driving under the influence of alcohol and ramming his car into a bakery which killed one and injured four.

Sessions judge DW Deshpande had pronounced the conviction as a stoic Khan, dressed in a white shirt and denims, stood in the dock. "You were driving the car, without a licence and you were under the influence of alcohol. All charges have been proved against you," the judge had told the actor. The other less serious charges included causing injury by rash acts under sections 337 and 338 of the IPC, for which he got three months and one year respectively.

The HC on Friday admitted his appeal, as a statutory right. It then suspended his five-year sentence and granted him bail while expediting the hearing. A challenge by the state may be unlikely said sources, since the HC has expedited the appeal and posted it for direction soon after the court resumes post its summer vacation.