Why tyre burst not probed: Salman's lawyer

'Standing order of the govt on road accidents not followed'

Suggesting that the car veered off from the road after a tyre burst because of rubbles and stones, Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s lawyer on Thursday told the Bombay High Court that the standing order of the Maharashtra ‘government on investigations of road accidents was not followed.

 This was evident that policemen from Bandra police station never ever checked the road near the accident spot.

“PW-26 (police inspector Rajendra Genbapu Kadam), who was the first to reach the spot, says that he does not remembers the standing order, even if he has read it...he accepts that there is a standing order, but he does not remember...this is how investigations is being done,” senior defence counsel Amit Desai told Justice A R Joshi, who is presiding over the appeal of the actor against his conviction and five year jail term in a 13-year-old drunken-driving and hit-and-run case.

“He has stated about the tyre burst, but he had never investigated whether there are tyre marks on the road...when you (prosecution) say that the car was at a speed of 90 to 100 kmph and there is a tyre burst, it is your duty to investigate,” he said. He added that there were some road repair work going on and rubbles, gravels, and stones were there on the road. He pointed out that the 1965 order of the Maharashtra government – part 36A details out what needs to be done in case of traffic accidents.

He said that barely 300 feet away from the accident spot, there is a speed-breaker – a suggestion that the car could not running at 90 kmph plus speed as mentioned by the first-informant Ravindra Patil, the late police constable who was attached as the bodyguard of the actor. 

Coming to the testimony of PW-19 (Rajendra Sadashiv Keskar, the RTO inspector), the senior defence counsel said: "After 13 years, he states that tyres were good. And that it was in a condition to be driven. It is an attempt to overreach the explanation given by Ashok Singh (the defence witness who had said in trial court that he was at the wheels) and the police is aware of it...he himself went to the police station and narrated what happened.”

He said that in the Mumbai Sessions Court, the RTO officer said that conducted a test drive of the vehicle a day after the accident.