Salman was neither on spot nor at home after crash: Cop

Bollywood actor Salman Khan was neither at the accident spot nor at his home when the incident took place at the posh Bandra area, a witness told the Mumbai sessions court on Thursday, confirming that it was indeed a case of hit-and-run that took place 13 years ago.

Police officer, Rajendra Kadam, who was one of the investigating officers (IO) of the case, made the statement before Additional Sessions Judge D W Deshpande, who is presiding over the retrial of Khan (49) in the hit-and-run case dating back to September 28, 2002.

Kadam also confirmed that police bodyguard Ravindra Patil lodged the complaint and gave a statement.

Patil had said in his complaint that the actor was driving the car at the time of the accident and he was under the influence of alcohol. Patil died of tuberculosis on October 3, 2007.

However, before his death he had given a statement before the magistrate’s court at Bandra saying that he had warned the actor who was driving in an inebriated condition.

Since he is no more and he was a crucial eye-witness, Special Public Prosecutor Pradeep Gharat had been permitted to submit the statement that he had given to the magistrate. For the corroboration, Kadam, who was among the first to reach the spot, was asked to depose in the re-trial.

Khan is charged with ramming his white Land Cruiser into the American Express bakery shop at Hill Road off Bandra-West, killing one person and injuring four people who were sleeping on the pavement.

The American Express bakery and his house at Galaxy Apartments – are merely 200 metres away.

“When I reached the spot, I did not find Khan. I then went to his house in nearby Galaxy apartments but even there the accused was not traced,” said Kadam.

“On reaching there, I found people had gathered at the spot and they were pushing around Khan’s police bodyguard Ravindra Patil. We pulled out Patil from the crowd and he told us what had happened. Only then, police came to know that Khan had met with an accident,” Kadam told the court.

During his cross examination by Shivade, Kadam said that he reached the accident spot at 2:50 am and drew a panchnama between 3:05 am and 4:20 am.

He also said that though the ignition key was in the car, he did not try to start the engine either at the spot or later at the police station. The car was brought to the police station with the help of a crane.