The number game over the car

The critical issue of whether there were three persons or four in Salman Khan’s SUV was to the fore again, this time during the hearing in the Bombay High Court.

The prosecution theory was that there were three - Salman Khan was at the wheel and to his left was police constable Ravindra Patil, the bodyguard assigned to him by the Mumbai Police. Singer-actor Kamaal Khan, the actor’s friend, was in the rear seat.

However, senior counsel Amit Desai stood by what Khan had said when his statement was recorded by additional sessions judge D W Deshpande of the Mumbai Sessions Court under Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Khan had claimed that he was not driving the car. Desai said there were four persons in the vehicle – Ashok Singh, the family driver, who was driving, and next to him was Salman Khan, while Patil and Kamaal Khan were in the rear seat.

Appearing before justice Abhay Thipsey, Desai pointed out: “On October 1, 2002, the then senior police inspector Kishan Shengal interrogated Ashok Singh…surprising, why? The statement of Kamaal Khan was recorded, but he was never examined in the court…surprising, why?”

He said it was clear from the beginning that there were four persons and, in fact, one of the witness has said that he saw two persons running away and two persons staying back. “The prosecution has not bothered to show this contradiction,” he said. “As far as Salman Khan was concerned, no debate, Patil, no debate, Kamaal Khan, no debate, but there is a fourth person,” Desai said.

Desai also argued that prosecution’s sole eyewitness Ravindra Patil (Khan’s then police bodyguard) was an “unwilling witness” and he was “forced” to give his evidence about Khan driving the car and the  prosecution failed to examine singer Kamaal Khan, who was present in the car at the relevant time along with the actor and was a key eyewitness.