2002 hit-&-run case: No skid marks to infer car was being driven at high speed, says Salman’s lawyer

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He further said that while Patil testified about the starting and end time of the journey, he did not say anything about the route that was taken.

“What is important is that the investigating officers have failed to conduct any investigation regarding the routes. After all there are at most maximum three to four possible routes. When Patil alleged that the car was being driven at 90-100 kmph, why did the police, as per normal procedure, not take all the possible three to four routes to ascertain the route taken. It is not an impossible task,” he added.

A map tracing all possible routes was also submitted in court. On May 6, Salman Khan was convicted on charges of culpable homicide, not amounting to murder, in the 2002 hit-and-run case in which one man had died and four had been injured.

The prosecution’s case is that the actor’s white Toyota Landcruiser ran over men, sleeping on a pavement in suburban Bandra. Justice A R Joshi is hearing the actor’s appeal against five years of conviction by sessions court on a daily basis. Ravindra Patil, Salman’s police bodyguard, later died of tuberculosis. Patil was the first to inform police about the accident, and it was based on his statement that an FIR was registered at Bandra police station.

His testimony in the magistrate’s court was made admissible in the trial court and was the basis for the actor’s conviction. Stating that there was “no doubt that the car reached near the shutter of the laundry,” Desai said that nobody excepting Patil said that the car went three-and-a-half feet into the laundry shutter.

“His testimony is absurd and contrary to evidence. Even the witness who worked in the laundry did not state that any damage had been caused to the laundry shutter,” said Desai.

Justice Joshi questioned if there was no material evidence to show the extent of damage to the shutter. “Are there no photographs?” he asked.

Desai said that while the panchnama made a mention of such photographs “God knows if the photos were taken,” he added.

mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com