Reported today, the Jodhpur Court has found Salman Khan guilty in the blackbuck poaching case. However the others accused, Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre have been acquitted. Salman has been found guilty and is sentenced to five years in prison with INR10,000 fine while Saif, Sonali, Tabu and Neelum are acquitted under the section 9/51 of Wildlife Act, reported CNN.
Salman and the others were accused of hunting and killing two blackbucks in 1998 in Rajasthan’s Kankani where they were shooting for film Hum Saath Saath Hain. Blackbucks are endangered species and hunting them is prohibited under the Wildlife Protection Act. Salman was acquitted in two poaching cases by the high court and in a case under Arms Act by the lower court but had earlier pleaded innocent, claiming that the blackbuck died of “natural causes” and he was being “framed”.
