Salman falsely implicated by a tutored witness: lawyer

Defence team asks to examine eyewitnesses involved in case

Bolstering the defence, the legal team of Salman Khan on Thursday pointed out discrepancies in statement of crucial witness Muslim Shaikh, who was among those injured on September 28, 2003 when the Toyata LandCruiser Lexus met with an accident in the Bandra suburbs.

“PW2 (Muslim Shaikh) says two different things at two different points of time,” Khan’s defence counsel Amit Desai said arguing before Justice A R Joshi of the Bombay High Court, who is presiding over the appeal of the actor against his conviction and five-year sentence awarded by the Mumbai Sessions Court.

“It appears that with age memory becomes sharper... is that so?,” Desai remarked pointing out that Shaikh was badly injured and a rod had to be inserted in his leg after operation. “During his examination-in-chief in 2006 before the Bandra Magistrate Court, he had stated that he had not seen anyone getting out of the car, but in 2014, appearing before the Mumbai Sessions Court, he had stated that he had seen Salman (Khan) getting out of the car,” Desai pointed out.

According to him during the 304-A trial conducted by a Magistrate — he had given one statement while during the 304-Part II trial in the sessions court — he had given another statement.”
 
During our careers, we all have come across instances of tutored witnesses...PW2 too seems to have been tutored,” he said.

“Why do you need to tutor the witness when there are eyewitnesses alive and available and not examined,” he said indirectly referring to the fact that the actor’s friend and actor-singer Kamaal Khan who was in the car was not examined.

“The key question is how was he driving, what was his condition....one witness said that after coming out of the car Salman Khan has fallen twice and then run away...he is drunk, falls twice and runs away?,” he said.

Justice Joshi, however, asked the defence team and also the government side to prepare a the list of witnesses in tabular form and what they have said at what time. “Prepare a list of witnesses and their statements in table form.... include the name, their statement before the police, before the Bandra Magistrate court, before the Mumbai sessions court or any other statement that they may have been given.... though these are there (in the paper book), a tabular form would help us understand better,” Justice Joshi ordered. The court adjourned the next hearing till August 25 — after Desai made a request.