Trouble mounts for Salman Khan; now booked for assault, robbery

MUMBAI: In fresh trouble for Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, who is already facing legal cases, police today booked him and his bodyguard on charges of assault, robbery and criminal intimidation, two days after a court's directive.

An FIR has been registered against Khan and his bodyguard Vishal on the basis of a complaint filed by an anti-corruption activist, Ravindra Dwivedi.

In his complaint before the court, Dwivedi has alleged on November 4 last year, the 49-year-old actor and his bodyguard had abused and assaulted him inside a Mumbai-Delhi flight.

The duo has been booked under IPC Sections 392 (punishment for robbery), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) 506 (2)(punishment for criminal intimidation) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), said Rajendra Nagbhirey, Senior Inspector at Airport Police Station.

The case was registered following an Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate Court order.

"The incident took place at about 8 AM at the domestic airport here. The assailants snatched important case papers, including those related to the death of BJP leader Gopinath Munde, from my possession," the complainant, a member of Brashtachaar Nirmoolan Samiti, has stated.

However, it is not yet clear what triggered the alleged incident on the flight, police said. The Magistrate observed that there were sufficient circumstances to send the matter to police for investigation.

"Concerned police officer of Airport Police Station is hereby directed to investigate the matter and file their report at the earliest," Magistrate A D Lokhande observed in an order passed on last Monday.

The superstar is currently facing trial in the 2002 hit- and-run case, where he has been accused of running his car over a group of people sleeping on a footpath outside a bakery in suburban Bandra, killing one and injuring four others.

The 'Dabangg' actor has been convicted in a 1998 blackbuck poaching case in Rajasthan.