Facts still murky in Salman case, says lawyer

Several questions remain unanswered

In an attempt to demolish the prosecution case, the lawyer representing Salman Khan in the 13-year-old hit-and-run case on Thursday said several questions about the case still remain unanswered.

“Why were the patients taken to the Bhabha Hospital, when the Holy Family hospital was just adjacent to the road?” defence council Amit Desai asked Justice A R Joshi of the Bombay High Court who is presiding over the hearing of Khan’s appeal against his conviction.  

“How come there is no facility to draw blood when it has an ICU? When the house was searched, was any panchanama done? Why was Ashok Singh interrogated and his statement was not recorded? Why was Kamaal Khan not examined by the court?"

“There are several questions that remain unanswered...the (trial) court should have asked some questions,” he said.

He took exception to police statement that driver Ashok Singh has “surfaced now”.

“Why are you saying that he has surfaced now? PW 27 (the then Senior Police Inspector of Bandra police station) had stated that Ashok Singh was called to the police station and he interrogated him...”

“The word interrogated is very important here....and he also says that he has not recorded the statement....what is the purpose of interrogation without recording the statement?” he pointed out.

PW 27 and PW 26 (the then Inspector Rajendra Kadam) searched Salman’s home at the Galaxy apartments and could not find him at the house or at the gym. “Was there any panchnama of house search made?” he asked.  

While it was claimed that Salman fled the scene and was not at his house, “The accused-appellant” visited the Bandra police station voluntarily.

“Do you think this would be the conduct of a person who has run away?” he asked the judge, pointing out that both the police officers wanted to take credit for searching Salman’s house.

On the issue of Ashok Singh, he said: “The defence says that there were four persons in the car...the prosecution says there were three...however, there was no dispute as far as the fact that Kamaal Khan was present...then why he was not examined?” “....they have just relied on the statement of police constable Ravindra Patil, who is no more,” he added.